


The Unvictorious Ones

by quercus



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-15
Updated: 2009-11-15
Packaged: 2017-10-02 23:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quercus/pseuds/quercus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daniel is invited to participate in an off-world inquiry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Unvictorious Ones

Jack bent over Daniel, keeping the sun out of his face, trying to cushion his ride in the uncomfortable cart. Sweat rolled down his forehead and dripped onto Daniel, joining his sweat, smudging the dust that had settled over them all. He gently wiped Daniel's face, who opened his eyes to smile up at Jack.

"Thank you," he whispered, and Jack smiled back at him, nearly overwhelmed by the tenderness he felt. "Really, I'm all right, Jack."

Jack nodded, but couldn't reply.

~ ~ ~

Daniel tapped his fingers against the tabletop, and then glanced around him. His teammates looked attentive and concerned, and General Hammond's benevolent expression and nod encouraged him.

"As you know, a few weeks ago Omoc, representating the Tollan Curia," and he nodded toward the quiet man at the end of the table, "brought us a significant amount of information about this world and the conflict there. I'll be as succinct as I can, but I'm afraid there's a lot to digest." Jack made a face, but remained silent, which Daniel also took as an encouraging sign.

"The world, P5X-789, is called People of Earth by its inhabitants. Obviously we'd find that a bit confusing, so I will use the language of the nation in question. They call it Kheusong-ha, and so shall I.

"Kheusong-ha is, like our own planet, divided into a number of countries. It appears to have been settled by a minor Goa'uld over two thousand years ago, so the inhabitants are not native to Kheusong-ha but are displaced humans. However, the Goa'uld, Bes, was, according to the Tok'ra, killed by Heru'ur shortly afterwards, who was either unaware of or uninterested in the planet, so these people had the comparative luxury of developing without the fear of being taken as hosts."

He sighed to himself as he turned the page of his notes, unable not to remember Sha'uri and Skaara being taken. But Sha'uri had died, almost in his arms. Only Skaara had been returned; only his host had survived.

"Just over thirty of our years ago, one of the countries on Kheusong-ha attempted a nation-wide social experiment. It was meant to become a utopia, to withdraw from the wider world and focus internally. To return, as the proponents of this experiment said, to Year Zero."

"For most of those thirty years, no one knew what was happening in that country, which at the time was called Na-song. It was a smallish country, only about eight million people, and not considered a player. It was also seen as their business -- if they wanted to retreat from the world, why not?

"However, occasionally stories would emerge." He flipped through his notes to a yellow sticky. "That all machinery and electronic equipment had been destroyed. That only human power was used, not even animals to plow the fields or carry the harvest."

~ ~ ~

Daniel watched the banks of the river slide by as he leaned against the railing of the barge, Jack at his side. They could be anywhere in the galaxy, at any time in history -- he could see only the lush jungle, trees with enormous roots arching from the murky water, rafts of floating flowers, and an oily slick refracting the light. The trees nearly met overhead, and the barge they were aboard chugged on through dappled sunlight; what sky they could glimpse was the color of soured milk. No people, no animals, nothing else seem to live here. He wondered if anything could live here again.

~ ~ ~

He flipped back to his place. "The other countries went on, fighting among themselves as countries seem to do everywhere --"

"Everywhere but Tollana," Jack interjected, glancing at Omoc, who ignored him.

"Everywhere but Tollana," Daniel agreed. "And apparently the Nox world, and the Asgard's. But they are surely the exceptions."

The others nodded, and he took a sip of water before continuing. "In the past ten years, more stories emerged, along with some people. A neighboring country, Vong-sa, began to find refugees dying along the border. Individuals, families, entire villages that had fled, swimming the river that divides the two countries.

"Lots of politics, which I'll skip. I'm sure you can imagine. It seems apparent that Kheusong-ha was settled by humans; they have the same 'not in my backyard' mentality we see here. No one wanted the refugees. No one wanted to hear their stories. There were . . . incidents."

Daniel paused, hesitant, before remembering that he worked for the military. His teammates would already know what kinds of incidents. "The military of Vong-sa chased the refugees back into Na-song, which was now called Ha, or 'People.' Presumably only the inhabitants of Ha were considered people. At any rate, there were secondhand reports of Vong-sa's military killing the refugees from Ha, rather than letting them into Vong-sa."

"Don't tell me," Jack said. "Tensions escalated between Vong-sa and Ha."

Daniel looked to Omoc, but he remained stonily silent, staring at the table before him. At last Daniel responded. "They did indeed. The two countries were drawn into war, and Year Zero came to Vong-sa. Nothing mechanical was to be permitted, except weapons. Weapons were exempt."

"How did the Tollans become involved?" General Hammond asked.

This time Daniel refused to answer and remained as silent as Omoc, who reluctantly looked up from the fascination of the table. "Other countries on Kheusong-ha became involved. The country Vong-sa began to vanish into the silence of Year Zero. People's relatives living in other countries began to speak out. The refugees' stories were believed. Tensions in the region were growing and, although neither Ha nor Vong-sa had never been big exporters of anything considered particularly valuable, the country bordering Vong-sa is. They possess a rare mineral used in the making of certain electronic components. It looked as though Year Zero might overtake them, and suddenly lots of people became concerned.

"An organization of medical doctors sent an emissary through the stargate to Tollana, asking for our help. The Curia met several times before sending a group to investigate the claims of the organization. What they found concerned them enough to request the Curia enlist the Nox. The Nox also sent representatives to investigate and came away . . . concerned."

"How did these doctors know about Tollana?" Sam asked him.

Omoc shrugged. "We have been in contact with this medical organization on Kheusong-ha; they have some excellent surgical techniques we're interested in. Also, we import the mineral."

There was a long pause; Daniel knew Jack was reviewing how the Tollans continued to refuse them access to technology, and wondered if the inhabitants of Kheusong-ha would be more willing to share. Daniel took another sip of water but remained as stubbornly silent as Omoc had; this wasn't his story, it wasn't the SGC's story. Typical of Omoc, he thought, and his mouth twitched with amusement. Jack didn't think much of Omoc, but Daniel couldn't help but like him.

Reluctantly, Omoc continued. "Both we and the Nox agreed that it wasn't our problem. The Curia believed we had no business interfering in a sovereign nation's decisions, and certainly not a nation on a distant world."

"But things got worse," Sam guessed.

"Much worse, and quickly. Once the stargate had been used, the Ha turned their attention to it. Fortunately, it's located in a distant country, but they sent terrorists to try to destroy it. Useless, of course. But they injured many people in the attempt. One of the dead was a Tollan."

"So now you had a reason to care," Jack said, and Omoc nodded.

"Furthermore, the doctors who'd gone to Tollana had learned about our system of jurisprudence and requested a Triad."

"Like between Skaara and Klorel," Hammond said, nodding to himself.

"Exactly. We explained that Triad was designed to settle disputes between individuals, not countries, but the doctors persisted. Eventually, the Tollans and the Nox contacted the Asgard, who suggested an inquiry."

"Not a Triad?" Jack asked, looking alert.

Omoc fell silent again, returning his gaze to the smooth wood of the table. Eventually, Daniel said, "No. An inquiry -- a kind of inquest into the situation. Of course, the Ha don't recognize the authority of anyone except themselves, and certainly not off-worlders. But when it began to look as though they were facing a world war, they agreed."

Daniel sighed, and straightened his notes, before looking at Omoc. "Frankly, it's probably going to be a farce. Nobody seems to have any jurisdiction here. Nobody seems to have any authority, nor the willingness to use force to stop what's going on. Furthermore, I'm probably misunderstanding a great deal. This," and he gestured at the notes before him, "is written in several languages. The Tollan's, of course, but also the Ha's, and Vong-sa's, and even a country called Dhiarm. I've had to learn new alphabets as well as new languages."

"Doctor Jackson, I know for a fact that no one on earth could have done a better job," Hammond told him, and Daniel smiled weakly.

"Thank you, sir. I did my best."

"So why did the Tollans send us this stuff? What do they want us to do? What's the point?" Jack asked shortly. Daniel could tell he was getting bored with the length and topic of this briefing, and he didn't blame him.

"We want Doctor Jackson," Omoc said, and everyone's head came up. "The Ha asked to choose someone to participate in the inquiry. They said they wanted equity. The emissary came to Tollana; we invited the Nox; the Nox invited the Asgard. The Ha wanted someone they had chosen to serve on the inquiry board. We gave them the choice of perhaps a dozen other worlds, other cultures, and out of them, they chose Earth."

"Who chose Earth? The Ha? Or the Kheusong-ha?" Jack asked impatiently.

"The Ha. Since they are the people we will be looking into."

"And you want Daniel," Jack said, looking both concerned and surprised. "Out of everybody on Earth, you chose Daniel." Omoc silently nodded.

"Wow," Sam said. "Is that a honor?"

Jack shook his head. "It's a fucking set-up. Excuse me, sir," he added to Hammond, who waved his hand.

"I agree. I don't like this, Doctor Jackson. Omoc, is he actually expected to represent these people? Who closed off their entire nation?"

"It is not a trial in the sense that anyone would be passing judgment and a sentence on the Ha. But yes. The Ha chose the Tau'ri; we chose Doctor Jackson to participate in the inquiry."

"I ask again," Jack said irritably. "What is the point?"

Omoc said, "The point of the inquiry is to seek the truth about what is happening in the country of Ha."

Silence fell on the table. Daniel could smell the coffee in the general's coffee maker, and his stomach rumbled softly.

At last, the general sat up. "Thank you, Omoc and Doctor Jackson, for your briefing. I will give it some thought. Omoc, would you accompany me to my office? The rest of you are dismissed."

Daniel piled his papers together, and rose. Jack jerked his head, and he followed him down the stairway and into the hall. "Let's get some lunch," was all he said though, and Daniel's stomach growled again.

After they'd foraged through the selections and seated themselves, Jack continued. Staring at the salt and pepper shakers, he said, "What do you think is really going on here?"

Daniel set down his fork. He was hungry, but this was important. "I honestly have no idea. I can't imagine why we were selected, why _I_ was selected. Nor can I imagine what good will come out of this. Knowing the Tollans and the Nox as we do, you and I both know they aren't going into Kheusong-ha as a military presence. Omoc seems pretty clearly against any intervention to me. I know that the Asgard could just --"

"_Poof_," Jack offered.

"Just _poof_ and stop it all, if they wanted to. So obviously they don't. Or at least not yet. I don't think it's an Asgard-protected planet, so maybe they can't, for fear it'll draw the attention of the Goa'uld."

"I'm going to ask this one more time: What's the point?"

Daniel shook his head, and picked up his fork again. "I have no idea," he repeated, and they turned their attention to the food.

Only when Jack loitered by the door to Daniel's office before heading to his own did Daniel ask, "Do you think Hammond will approve this mission?"

Jack sighed heavily. "It isn't his decision, Daniel. He's gathering all the information and will make a recommendation, but the president or his representatives will make the decision." He sighed again; Daniel saw how unhappy he was by this. "It's too much like Kuwait," he finally said, and Daniel understood Jack's unhappiness. "I don't like this, going in to fight other people's battles. We have enough on our plate as it is."

Daniel agreed, but he was also very curious about the Ha and their experiment in utopianism. He knew better than to admit that to Jack, though, so he just nodded. After a moment, Jack took himself off, and Daniel turned his attention to some translations he'd been working on for SG-11.

~ ~ ~

Jack watched Daniel as he spoke. So passionate, so articulate; even Jack could tell that, despite the fact that Daniel was speaking a foreign language. His voice rang out, and the audience stared, rapt, as rapt as Jack was. The last honest man, Jack thought, with some pride. Daniel is the last honest man in the entire galaxy. No wonder he was chosen.

Jack felt ridiculously proud of Daniel. He stood in that hot barren field clutching Daniel's backpack, waiting for him to finish, wanting him never to finish. He wanted to witness Daniel kick butt here, to make up for all the times he'd had to give in, to demur, to step aside. Too much of that would kill Daniel, Jack knew. Maybe this would help. Daniel was no politician, thank god.

He was the last honest man in the galaxy. And Jack O'Neill loved him.

~ ~ ~

Omoc stopped by his office much later. Daniel was rubbing his eyes, trying to decide if he should go home or just take a break. "Doctor Jackson," he heard Omoc's gravelly voice say, and he looked up in surprise. "May I come in?"

"Of course." He rose and gestured for Omoc to have a seat; as he expected, Omoc refused.

"I am returning to Tollana in a few moments, but I wanted to say goodbye. And thank you."

"You're welcome. I wish there were something I could do."

Omoc held up a hand. "As a member of the Curia, I can assure you I understand bureaucracies."

Daniel stared at him, a bit nonplused. Had Omoc just made a joke?

"I also wanted to congratulate you on your translations, and your summary at the briefing today. You are a consummate linguist."

"Thank you," Daniel murmured, surprised even further.

"Doctor Jackson, you expressed some puzzlement as to why we asked you. It is true that we would not have chosen your people to participate in the inquiry, but that was the Ha's decision. However, among them all, you are the logical choice."

"And the Tollan are, above all else, logical," Daniel said, feeling bold.

Omoc inclined his head almost regally. "I will take that as a compliment. And I look forward to visiting Kheusong-ha with you."

"Have you heard something? Are we to go?"

"That will take some time to decide. But I believe you will. Goodbye, Doctor Jackson."

And with that, Omoc turned and left. Daniel thought briefly about going after him, but he knew Omoc well enough to know it would be futile and embarrassing. So he sat down to ponder this latest event.

Would he go to Kheusong-ha? Would SG-1 be sent, too? He felt ambivalent; he wanted to go, to see this great experiment, but he was frightened by the images he'd seen and the descriptions he'd read of the results. What would he find among the Ha?

Well, there was nothing he could do about it tonight. He knew he was too wound up to sleep now, so he turned back to the translation for SG-11 and began to review his work.

Omoc and Jack were right; they were to go, although it took a while for the decision to be made. The Russians had to be consulted, of course, and the NID was extremely interested, as were the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Then they had to decide _who_ would go. Daniel, of course, since he was the only one specifically requested. The other members of SG-1 wanted to go. The Joint Chiefs of Staff wanted their liaison Major Davis to go. The NID wanted one of their men to go, as did the Russians.

That decision of who should go took another week, time Daniel spent familiarizing himself with Kheusong-ha, specifically the three cultures and languages he would be exposed to: the Ha's, the Na-song's, and the lingua franca shared by a number of countries. He also met with several Air Force attorneys, his first experience among them, to learn the difference between a trial and inquiry -- that the former was adversarial and the latter inquisitorial. Daniel had to suppress a smile when he heard that; he knew what Jack would have to say about him participating in an inquisition.

But the meetings were interesting, and he did have a better understanding of what his role would be on Kheusong-ha. As Jack had once instructed him, he was to ask questions. A lot of questions.

Late at night, alone in his bed, he worried what the answers might be. He was, he admitted to himself, frightened of what the answers might be. During the day, along with his usual work, he did the necessary preparation for a visit to Kheusong-ha, studying the languages, trying to understand the politics that had led the doctors from Kheusong-ha to flee to Tollana and ask for help.

He and Jack talked, too, over lunch, at coffee, in the gym. "What made these Ha destroy their own country?" Jack asked him while spotting Daniel.

"You want to know _now_?" Daniel huffed as sweat poured off him. He finished his set and stretched out, Jack pulling his arms gently. "They don't think of it as destruction," he finally said, wiping his face and hands. "The politics are complex, and I'm not sure I fully understand. But their goal was noble: to create a new society, a new people. They wanted their country to be independent and utterly egalitarian."

"Egalitarian, that's good," Jack said, switching positions with Daniel so he could start his lifting.

"Yeah, it is. In principle. They stopped taxes, abolished any kind of currency, and thus any usury."

"That's good, too," Jack puffed.

"They closed all schools, to free themselves from the oppression of imposed acculturation. At least I think that's why."

"Boring."

Daniel nodded, knowing Jack meant the politics, not the weightlifting. He watched Jack's trembling arms closely, ready to intervene if necessary. "Just one more," he murmured, and with a gasp, Jack pushed up one final time and racked the weights.

"Fuck," he said, sitting up. "I think there's more gravity today."

Daniel stared at him, trying not to smile.

Then one afternoon, while Daniel was sketching an artifact located by another SG team on P3X-133, the call came, asking him to General Hammond's office. Even though nothing more was specified, he knew. He was going to Kheusong-ha.

Jack was already there, hands shoved into his pockets, his hair sticking wildly up as if agitated by the situation. Hammond looked calm and fatherly, but Daniel knew him well enough by now to recognize his concern. Without speaking, Hammond gestured for Daniel to sit, and gave Jack a look that had him instantly seated next to Daniel.

"Doctor Jackson, our orders are for you to proceed to P5X-789 and to participate in the inquiry as requested by Omoc and the Tollan."

Silence descended on the room. Daniel nodded, but didn't speak. The general continued, "Colonel O'Neill has been selected to accompany you. I argued that all of SG-1 should go, but I've been overruled. The liaison to the Joint Chiefs of Staff will be permitted to accompany you, but unlike Colonel O'Neill, he will not be permitted to attend the inquiry."

"Sir, I'm sorry, but that makes no sense."

"I agree, but again, we were overruled."

"By whom?" Jack asked.

But the general didn't answer, and from the continued silence, Daniel realized he couldn't answer. Was, in fact, forbidden to answer.

So he and Jack and Major Davis were to go. He deeply regretted the absence of Sam and Teal'c; their comforting presence would have made the trip easier for him, he was sure. But at least Jack would be there, and that would be comfort enough.

He glanced at Jack, who was sitting at attention, staring at Hammond, and wondered if Jack knew anything more and, if he did, whether he'd share his knowledge with Daniel. Jack would always obey the letter of the law, Daniel knew from their shared history, but he was occasionally willing to bend its spirit. Perhaps this time.

At any rate, the decision was made. That was a relief in itself.

Hammond sighed, and said, "You'll leave in two days. Omoc will return at that time and accompany you to P5X-789, where you will meet with the other members of the inquiry and their associates. I gather this will be quite formal, so you'll need to learn and follow the appropriate protocol. Just as for any off-world mission, Colonel O'Neill, I expect you will see that no violation of Air Force regulations occurs, nor of any U.S. civil laws."

"Yes, sir."

"Doctor Jackson. You are to report back to Major Davis each day on the activities of the inquiry. In detail. If you are permitted to take notes, do so. If an opportunity arises that permits Major Davis to accompany you, avail yourself of it.

"Do you understand, son?"

Daniel nodded, taken aback by the change in the general's demeanor. "Yes, sir. Will Jack be with me at the inquiry?"

"Yes, we were able to arrange for that. But it wasn't easy, and I have my doubts whether the agreement will be honored." Daniel thought he could imagine what Omoc had to say about Jack accompanying him.

And so they went to P5X-789. Daniel, as he always did when going through the gate, wore his BDUs, but his official U. S. Air Force backpack carried two brand-new suits as well as several new shirts; he wondered if laundry services would be available, or if he'd have to ship his dirty clothes home through the stargate. He brought books, his laptop, music CDs, his private journal, his favorite pen, and a picture of Sha'uri. Sam gave him a large bag of cookies she'd made, and Teal'c a meditation candle, with instructions to meditate each night. They said goodbye in the relative privacy of Sam's lab, Jack waiting silently just outside the door. Sam kissed him, and he was surprised by the tears glistening in her eyes. "Be careful," she whispered, and he felt himself blushing.

Teal'c took his forearm in a firm grip and bowed. "You will be in my heart," he promised Daniel, who was moved by the sentiment.

"I'll miss you guys," he whispered, conscious of Jack's hovering presence, and then slipped into the hallway, leaving them behind.

Jack slapped him on the shoulder, helped him with his backpack, and they walked in silence to the waiting stargate, Major Davis, and their escort Omoc.

"Doctor Jackson, Colonel O'Neill," Omoc greeted them, bowing slightly.

"Hey, Omoc. Always good to see ya," Jack said, and he sounded almost sincere. "Davis. General." Daniel shook Major Davis' hand, and smiled at Omoc, whose faced softened minutely.

The general said, "Gentlemen. I wish you the best of luck. Sergeant Davis?"

"Encoding chevron one, sir." The immense mechanism began to move, the men watching in silence as the gate began to spin, and then they were standing in glaring, hazy sunlight and drenching humidity. Daniel put his hand up to shade his eyes and looked out on the greenest world in the galaxy.

"Welcome!" someone cried, and he dropped his eyes from the treetops to a short pale man smiling broadly at him. "You are the Tau'ri inquisitor, Doctor Daniel Jackson, yes?"

"I am," he confessed.

"I am first Kheusong-ha you meet," he said proudly, and Daniel nodded, feeling a smile twitch. "You call me Ki-riv-Ha. My given name is riv, and I am of the family Ki, from the nation of Ha. All Ha are family Ki."

"Hello," Daniel said, slightly bewildered. His fingers ached to write down the stranger's words so he could study them later. "I'm honored to have been invited to participate."

"Yes, honored." Ki-riv-Ha nodded. "All honored in noble task."

"Your English is excellent," Daniel said, and Ki-riv-Ha nodded again. His confidence impressed Daniel, and slightly annoyed him.

"I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, and this is Major Paul Davis," Jack boomed in his best parade-grounds voice. Daniel knew that meant he was annoyed, too.

"Ah, yes, partners. Welcome," Ki-riv-Ha said insincerely, never taking his eyes off Daniel. "You come now. Long, long journey. Much to learn, to discuss."

Daniel had no further time to ponder the situation. He, Jack, and Major Davis were hurried away through the crowd of short pale people to a waiting aircraft, heavy and throbbing with power and stinking of fossil fuel. He saw that Jack and Davis were fascinated by the plane, studying it openly, making arcane comments to each other while they boarded.

It reminded him of the old Aeroflot days; he'd flown to Cairo once in one, a huge beast that stank of jet fuel and goats and looked as though it should be carrying crates of chickens. His seat was torn plastic with fraying padding, and had bulky straps that fit across his chest and between his legs. He sat crammed between Jack and Davis; next to Major Davis sat Omoc.

Across from them Ki-riv-Ha settled, still smiling, with three other men, very similar in appearance; all four were dressed in black. Suddenly the plane began to vibrate, and the noise increased in volume along with the vibration until Daniel thought his fillings would dance right out of his teeth. He hung onto the seat beneath him, casting an anxious glance at Jack, who looked interested but completely calm. Sweat poured off Daniel, and not just from the heat and humidity. He could see his backpack above him through the mesh net it sat in, shaking so hard he knew Sam's cookies would be pulverized.

The plane lurched, stopped, lurched again, and began turning. Daniel twisted around, but the only windows were in the cockpit; both Jack and Major Davis were watching the landscape move past them, but Daniel shut his eyes and prayed he wouldn't throw up on Major Davis' shiny shoes. Jack's boots would be bad enough; Jack would never let him live it down, but at least they were Jack's, and scruffy.

The noise got impossibly louder, the plane moved faster, and then shot into the sky as if from a slingshot. Jack shouted something, and Daniel opened his eyes. He must've looked as miserable as he felt, because Jack slung an arm around his shoulder and held on. Daniel shut his eyes again and let Jack keep him safe.

Ki-riv-Ha was right; it was a long, long journey. Daniel eventually fell asleep from boredom, slumped against Jack. The heavy thrum of the aircraft's engines were soporific, and he woke only to drink and pee. The thought of food with the stink of the engine fuel was not to be borne. His butt grew numb, his knees ached, and his ankles swelled. He wondered idly about venous stagnation and blood clots, but was too tired and self-conscious to march up and down the narrow aisle in front of the others, so he just flexed his feet, stood for a while at the rear, near the offensive lavatories, and hoped for the best.

Thirteen hours after they'd taken off in this noisy behemoth, they landed. They'd flown through an afternoon, a night, a dawn, and it was another afternoon now, hotter and even more humid than where they'd stepped through the stargate. Daniel staggered off the plane, a little pleased to see both Jack and Major Davis walking as stiffly as he was. The sudden silence was deafening. His ears popped repeatedly.

"Small journey now," Ki-riv-Ha said, and pointed at a dirty black Humvee-like bus apparently waiting for them at the edge of the runway. Was everything on this world so oversized? Did the inhabitants engage in some sort of compensatory behavior for their small stature?

To his astonished pleasure, beside the bus Lya stood quietly smiling, and next to her, gleaming in the sunlight, was Thor.

"Buddy!" Jack shouted, and Daniel thought for a minute he'd hug the Asgard. Thor took a careful step forward; Jack knelt before him and they shook hands. The language of both their bodies broadcast their pleasure in seeing each other again.

"Daniel," Lya said, and he murmured his excuses to Ki-riv-Ha before stepping over to hug her. She was so tiny in his arms, so fragile, and yet he knew she was one of the most powerful people in the galaxy.

"I'm so happy to see you again, Lya," he told her, and he felt his pleasure spill out at the sight of her sweet smile.

"And you."

Jack stood and asked, "And me?" and she smiled up at him.

"Oh, yes, O'Neill. You know the Nox love children." She was teasing him, Daniel thought happily. I'm glad we came. Jack nodded benignly. "But Ki-riv-Ha is right; you have another journey ahead of you, and it would be best to start."

"Can't Thor just, um, _poof_?" Daniel asked, looking at him.

"Not here, Doctor Jackson. We will explain later," Thor said.

"Later," Jack echoed, and Daniel knew he was wondering what Thor and Lya were keeping from them. Was it because of Ki-riv-Ha's presence?

"Oh, Major Davis," Daniel suddenly remembered the third member of their delegation. "I don't think you've ever met Lya, of the Nox. Or Thor?"

"I've met Commander Thor, yes, and a pleasure to see you again, sir," he said smoothly, bending forward to shake hands. "But I have only read reports of the Nox."

"It is my honor," Lya told him in her gentle voice, and Daniel saw at once that Davis, too, was affected by her calm presence.

"Um, yes, thank you," he said, and Daniel grinned at Jack behind the good major's back. Gotta love those people.

Ki-riv-Ha clapped his hands once sharply. "Go now. Little journey but must start."

The little journey turned out to be little only in comparison to the flight they'd just taken. The seats were marginally more comfortable, but there was no toilet, so regular pit stops were made for them to find some privacy in the bushes. Once Thor accompanied the three Tau'ri into the bushes and watched with interest as they watered the already lush greenery. "Eyes forward, Thor," Jack told him, but he only said, "Cultural differences as well as physiological, hmm," in his oddly-distorted voice and continued to watch. Fortunately, once was enough, for Thor as well as for Daniel.

The noise level was considerably less than on the plane, so for the first time since they'd left Earth, they were able to converse. Ki-riv-Ha tried to dominate the conversation, giving them lectures on the country they were passing through. "Agricultural, yes, not good soil, very poor. Ignorant people." Daniel tuned him out after only a few minutes and eavesdropped on Jack and Thor, or Davis and Lya.

At last, he leaned forward and caught Omoc's attention. "You've been very quiet."

Omoc raised one shoulder. Nothing to say, the gesture said.

"Can you tell me more about the inquiry? Where will it be held? Who will attend? Why can't Major Davis attend?"

Omoc raised a hand, and sighed. "These were the terms we agreed to, Doctor Jackson."

"Yes, I'm not trying to re-negotiate," he insisted. "I just want to understand what we're getting into."

"Foolish," Ki-riv-Ha said sharply. Omoc's eyes moved toward him, and then back to Daniel, and again he had the sensation that much wasn't being said.

"Why?" Jack asked, and the others fell silent.

"No need. The Ha have no need for," he paused and consulted with one of his colleagues, "for intervention." He made the last word sound pornographic.

"Is that what the inquiry is? An intervention?" Daniel was puzzled.

Ki-riv-Ha turned away, his mouth pulled as tight as a drawstring bag. After a while, Omoc said, "The Ha only reluctantly agreed to permit the inquiry. They have not agreed to abide by its findings. And of course, as Ki-riv-Ha knows, the inquiry participants have no jurisdiction over them. Nor," he added, looking directly at the four Ha, "do we wish any."

Ki-riv-Ha kept his face averted, but he nodded.

"We are here only to investigate and then to report our findings to the Tollan Curia, Daniel," Lya explained. "No decision has been made to intervene."

"Doctor Jackson knows very well the Tollan's reluctance to intervene in any culture's progress," Omoc said, looking at Major Davis.

"And where are we going?" Jack asked.

"To the border of Vong-sa and Ha," Omoc said. "At the beginning of Year Zero."

Daniel thought that was the strangest thing he'd ever heard Omoc say, but he only nodded. He had maps of Kheusong-ha; he, Jack, and Davis could study them later.

The Humvee thing wasn't air conditioned, and Daniel was soon soaked again with sweat. He felt dirty and exhausted, but still they bumped along. The road got steadily worse; little Lya clung to the seat in front of her, and Jack put his arm around Thor's thin shoulders to keep him from being tossed right out of his.

Daniel watched Jack, how gentle he was with Thor, and saw how Thor enjoyed Jack's physicality. It was no doubt unusual for non-Asgards to be so comfortable with them; they were so different from humans. But Jack saw beyond that, beyond Thor's alien body, beyond his political machinations; he saw into Thor's heart and good intentions. Daniel enjoyed listening to their odd conversations, and observed the others eavesdropping on them, too.

Jack looked up from Thor and caught Daniel watching them. He grinned and reached back, grabbing Daniel's shoulder and rocking him gently. Daniel realized that Jack had been performing for the others, that he and Thor were putting on a little show. Demonstrating, perhaps to Omoc, perhaps to Ki-riv-Ha, their unique relationship. Daniel smiled back, pleased to be included. Then the vehicle hit an especially deep pothole and Jack grabbed Thor before he knocked his head against the interior.

"Interesting method of transportation," Thor said dryly, and Daniel laughed to himself.

As he got out of the vehicle at the next stop, Daniel asked Ki-riv-Ha, "How much longer?"

"Until the river."

Jack took Daniel aside. "You know what's going on?"

"No more than you. We're being taken to the site of the inquiry, a site apparently agreed upon before we were invited to the proceedings. I have maps of this part of Kheusong-ha, but they don't have keys on them, so I don't know how far we've come."

Major Davis joined them, looking back at the four Ha standing by the vehicle, staring at them. "Those gentlemen make me very uncomfortable. They remind me too much of the government people I met in Bosnia-Hercegovina."

"Slobodan Milosevic?" Daniel asked, and Davis nodded.

"And Radislav Krstic. And those I met in Rwanda, Emmanuel Ndindabahizi. Emmanuel Rekundo. An entire herd of them. A world of them." Daniel saw Major Davis' exhaustion, printed on his face like currency, and knew it wasn't only from the long journey they'd undertaken on Kheusong-ha. They stood silently in the hazy dusk, waiting for a cue to tell them to return to the vehicle and prepare for the journey.

Late that night, that portion of their journey ended when they pulled up to an evil-smelling dock and were loaded onto a barge. Daniel hoped for a room with a bed, but had to make do with another hard bench. At least there were benches enough for them all, and even Lya lay down with a heavy sigh. Daniel fell asleep before the barge left the dock, its engines rumbling in his ears and dreams.

When he woke, it was morning, and the sultry air was marginally cooler now that they were out on the water. Jack and Major Davis were already up and on deck; Omoc sat in the saloon and stared into space, sitting close to where Lya and Thor were quietly talking. None of the Ha was in sight.

After greeting the others, Daniel went onto the deck, cracking his back. "Hey," he said, his voice raspy with sleep.

"Pee here now," Jack said. Great. More public pissing. As Daniel wandered to the stern of the barge to take care of business, he wondered what their accommodations would be like when they finally arrived wherever they were going.

When he returned to where Jack and Major Davis stood, he saw to his surprise that Omoc had joined them, and the four men stood silently, leaning against the railing, watching the shimmering water break against the blunt bow and flow past them. Wavy reflections of the enormous trees and dense shrubs that lined the shore paced them, and Daniel felt relaxed for the first time in days.

"What's happening, Omoc?" he finally asked.

Omoc's eyes flicked beyond him, and he nearly turned around. Something warned him not to, though, and he managed to remain still. Jack and Major Davis also watched Omoc closely, and contrived to move closer without really moving.

"You studied the files, Doctor Jackson," he said, and Daniel nodded. "You shared them with your colleagues and superiors."

"Of course."

"What you saw was only the surface. The Tollan would never have agreed to participate in this inquiry except under the most extraordinary circumstances, which these are. You are under the protection of the Asgard, and Thor has his technology readily available. The Nox are, for some reason, quite fond of you, and Lya will use her illusions if necessary. The Tollan are, as you know, forbidden to share technology, a sentiment with which I heartily agree. But I assure you I will use our defensive technologies on your behalf should a need arise."

After an awkward silence, Davis said, "Forgive me, Omoc, but that neither answers Doctor Jackson's question nor reassures us."

"I do not wish to reassure you. And I believe I have answered his question."

With that, he turned abruptly and rejoined the others in the cabin. They watched him through the dirty windows as he sat and stared into space again.

"What the fuck was that about?" Jack asked the air.

Davis said, "We're being used. That's obvious. Doctor Jackson, you need to stay with one of us at all times. Don't get separated. I think you're in some danger."

Daniel looked at him in surprise. "What? How do you figure that?"

"Well, I think Omoc was fairly plain-spoken. Who's at risk here? The Ha. Who are they at risk from? The inquisitors."

Daniel shook his head, but Jack argued, "We should get the hell out of Dodge."

"Colonel, with all due respect, how do you suggest we do so? Walk back to the stargate?"

"Jack, Major Davis. I'll be careful. We'll stay together, and we should stay with the others."

"Especially Thor," Jack said firmly. "He's the only one I really trust."

Daniel was too tired and baffled to argue. His sense of peace and relaxation had fled, left behind in the mirrored water. Just then, Davis' stomach growled loudly, and Jack herded them into the saloon and to their backpacks for a breakfast.

"Lya," Daniel asked as he munched a granola bar, "have you been where we're going?"

"No, Daniel," she said earnestly, and looked at Thor. "No one has been."

"No off-worlder has ever been where we're going," Thor added. He was eating tiny chalky pastel-colored cubes.

"I don't understand," Daniel started, but Lya put her hand on his arm. After a moment, he nodded, and offered her a granola bar. He glanced at Jack, who looked unusually solemn, staring out at the river bank.

They traveled the rest of the day in near silence, exchanging only casual pleasantries. Lovely scenery. Shit, it's hot. Wonder how much farther. And always, Daniel was aware of the Ha, never joining in, but loitering within hearing distance, silently observing them.

It was evening before the barge chugged parallel to a long ramshackle pier, the until then largely-invisible crew tying off quickly before disappearing again. The silence after the constant noise was almost painful.

The four inquisitors plus Jack and Davis waited on deck, watching the Ha confer among themselves. Daniel studied the shore curiously; what would they find there? Where were they going? This was the most confusing mission SG-1 had ever been sent on. Except it wasn't a mission, and this wasn't SG-1. It was something else entirely, something Daniel no longer understood.

At last, Ki-riv-Ha and the three other men they'd been traveling with approached them and indicated they should leave the barge. The sun was setting, caught in the thick foliage, spilling long shadows and thin yellow light over them. Daniel realized that, except for the slap of water against the pier and their voices, it was utterly silent.

"Wait a minute," Jack said, and put his foot on someone's backpack. "Just where are we going? How far? I don't see any lights, any vehicles, nothing. You expect us to walk through the jungle in the middle of the night?"

"Walk, no," one of the Ha said. "Go now."

Daniel said impulsively, "What's your name?" Jack smiled tightly and stared at the guy. Ki-riv-Ha said, "Ki-kheu-Ha."

"And the other two gentlemen?"

The two in question looked to Ki-riv-Ha, who said impatiently, "No matter names. We go."

"No, I don't think so," Daniel said, realizing he sounded like Jack. "Not until we've been formally introduced." He had the distinct sensation that Thor was smiling, but it was too dark to be sure.

Ki-riv-Ha pointed at the man standing behind him and said, "Ki-saloth-Ha," and then to the man to his left, "Ki-pong-Ha. Now we go."

"Good to meet you," Daniel said expansively, deciding to roll with this. "What are your responsibilities here?"

Ki-riv-Ha interrupted. "To assist me, Inquisitor Jackson."

"Where's your luggage? How far are we going? You said we're not going to walk; how will we get there?"

Ki-riv-Ha shivered in impatience. "Not safe here on river," he finally said. "Go now. Talk later." With that, he gestured toward the mound of packs on deck and the others seized them. Jack jumped from the barge to the pier and helped Thor and Lya over, Major Davis holding onto them until Jack had them firmly. Daniel stayed with Omoc, who had no trouble.

"Very interesting, Daniel," Omoc murmured to him, and Daniel realized that was the first time Omoc had called him by his given name. He grinned at Omoc, who raised his eyebrows.

The party walked up the dark pier onto the darker shore. Daniel remembered Ki-riv-Ha's comment that it wasn't safe here, and understood why no lanterns lit their way. They were entering a battle zone. He wished for his helmet, the clunky one that had given him helmet hair back when he wore it long.

They quietly followed the Ha into the dense brush, reeds slipping past them, nodding with damp that quickly soaked Daniel's pants legs and bare arms. Jack followed him, the last in single file, and Daniel wondered if Jack felt as vulnerable to an ambush as Daniel did.

They walked for nearly fifteen minutes, into the increasing darkness. No moon here; he wondered if this planet had a moon. The stars were pale and distant even in this dark night. He supposed that meant it was located at the far end of the galaxy, an isolated planet. An isolated country on an isolated planet.

Why am I here? he wondered as he stepped carefully, close enough to Omoc that he occasionally trod on his heels. He felt a ridiculous urge to reach out behind him to Jack and hang on. Jack was experienced in battle, and he was behind Daniel because Daniel was the civilian and thus presumably needed to be protected.

Actually, Daniel reflected, that was a pretty comforting thought.

At last the Ha leading them stopped and turned. There was a moment of fumbling noise, a light flared, and Daniel saw two carts, old to anyone but an archaeologist, drawn by animals that looked like a combination of oxen and mastadges. He hoped they wouldn't be as flatulent as the mastadges on Abydos.

The luggage was divided between the two carts, and then the ten passengers climbed aboard: two Ha on each. Daniel, Jack, and Thor were settled in one cart, while Davis, Omoc, and Lya settled into the other. All this was done in near silence, and the tension infected Daniel. Daniel watched Jack and Major Davis exchange meaningful glances at each other, some military thing, and felt comforted by their competency.

No one spoke except the Ha driving the animals, an occasional velar sound, the linguist in him noted, and he realized he'd heard almost none of their language. Although he'd taught himself their alphabet and could read the documents the Tollan had sent the SGC, he'd never heard the language spoken. In the heavy hot dark, that fact seemed significant.

He'd learned, as he'd told Jack, that the Ha had cut themselves off from the rest of their world, withdrawn into Year Zero, trying to create a social utopia free of the material goods found in other countries on Kheusong-ha. They neither imported nor exported. Currency had been abolished. Mechanical and electronic equipment had been destroyed, sometimes in large celebrations.

Although from the very beginning, refugees had fled the new regime, only when enough of them had managed to work their way into the neighboring country of Vong-sa did word of what was happening start to percolate out.

Do other countries have the right to intervene in a sovereign nation? Under any circumstances? Daniel wasn't a politician; he didn't like politics. He was a social scientist, though, and he understood the mechanism of human behavior in a way few politicians did.

And here he was, on yet another world, trying to understand yet another group of politicians. An inquisitor, a word with the same etymological root as the word "inquire," deriving from the Latin, meaning "to seek." What was Inquisitor Jackson seeking, here on this strange and hostile world?

The cart jostled heavily, and Daniel saw by the flickering lantern light that the road was deeply pockmarked. Craters, he thought. From bombs or shells, some kind of large projectile weapon. Jack had his arm around Thor again. The original Thor had been the Norse god of thunder, weather, and crops, or perhaps the other way around. Either way, it was fitting that Thor should be present to witness this. Thor had been a good god, a beloved god. His calm presence and wisdom comforted Daniel nearly as much as Jack's presence. And Lya, and Paul Davis, and even Omoc -- their familiarity and known qualities shone brighter than the lanterns in this dark country.

The Ha driving the lead cart twisted around in his seat and called something back to Ki-riv-Ha, who was in Daniel's cart. "We are here," Ki-riv-Ha said, and jumped out of the cart before it rolled to a stop.

"Here we are, kids," Jack said softly, and he and Daniel helped Thor from the cart. They left the lanterns behind them, following the Ha into more thick, wet underbrush; Daniel had left his hand on Thor's frail shoulder and felt him shiver at the touch of the wet leaves.

Suddenly they stepped into a clearing, and Daniel was stunned to find before them a well-maintained lawn. The light was marginally better here, a flickering, creamy yellow light that revealed something that had apparently been magically transported from rural England: a lawn rolled for centuries, the grass thick and soft like velvet. There was a flagstone walkway that suddenly started at the edge of the lawn and led up to an enormous house. Pile, he supposed they'd call it were it really in England. Built of the same stone as the walk, it rose two stories, with a veranda running the entire length of the front of the house. The creamy light illuminating the lawn gleamed from within.

"Here," Ki-riv-Ha said urgently. "Go."

Daniel was so hot and tired and dirty that he went. Up the veranda steps, across the shining wood, and into a broad lobby. The four Ha led them deeper into the house, into an enormous dining room. A low curving oblong table was covered in tiny candles floating in transparent bowls, and a line of black-clad servants waited, each carrying a tray with many covered bowls on it. The smell of fresh fruit, lemony vegetables, and other odors Daniel didn't recognize reached inside him, and he heard his stomach growl in delight.

"Sit," Ki-riv-Ha said, smiling at them proudly. "Eat." Daniel decided he didn't like the smile, but he willingly sat and let one of the servants ply him with myriad tiny bowls, uncovering each one with a flourish. Even Thor tried a few tidbits, and the others ate with as much relish as Daniel did. The Ha did not eat with them, although Ki-riv-Ha watched and sipped something from a nearly round pottery cup.

When Daniel finally slowed down, he took a sip of water from his own canteen and sighed. "Thank you, Ki-riv-Ha," he said. "This was excellent."

Ki-riv-Ha beamed at him, and made a toasting gesture with his cup. Daniel noted that cross-cultural phenomenon and wondered why two such different cultures from two different worlds would share that gesture. Jack said, "It really was good. Thank you. Is this where we'll be staying?"

Ki-riv-Ha ignored Jack, but the silent servants contrived that they should go with them, Ki-riv-Ha following closely. They were escorted up a long hallway, into a series of nearly bare rooms. Each room had a low wood-framed platform mounded with pillows; a sleeping platform, Daniel decided. A low bench sat under a shuttered window, and a single candle burned its welcome. At the end of the hall was a bathroom, literally a small room with a bath, and beside it a door leading to an outhouse.

When Lya, Thor, and Omoc had selected their rooms, Jack called Major Davis and Daniel into one. "I don't like this," he said in a low voice, his eyes tracking past them into the dark hallway. "Can't see a thing, don't have a clue where we are, and we're separated. I don't like that Ki-riv-Ha guy, and I don't like this house."

Davis nodded. "I agree, Colonel. I don't think the inquisitors should be left alone, and I especially don't think Doctor Jackson should be left alone."

"Hey," he protested, but mildly. Jack and Davis' attitude was creeping him out, and the house was dark. He didn't like Ki-riv-Ha anymore than Jack did, either. "So you're suggesting we double up?"

"Thor and Omoc, Davis and Lya, you and me," Jack said, and Major Davis nodded. When they turned into the hallway, Omoc was waiting for them. "It's not that we don't think you can take care of yourselves," Jack explained. "Obviously you can. Probably better than we can." Daniel raised his eyebrows to hear Jack admit that. "But I'd sleep better."

Omoc nodded. "I'd reached the same conclusion. I'm sure Commander Thor has, too. And Lya."

They agreed, as Daniel had known they would. And probably for the reason Jack had hinted at -- to take care of the Tau'ri more than themselves. Whatever. He felt better when Jack dragged his pillows and backpack into their shared room. "Stay with me, Daniel," Jack instructed him, turning into a colonel again. "Even when you, uh, need the facilities. Davis is right; this place is wrong."

Daniel felt in his sleepy heart that Jack was right, and was happy to lie down on the platform and watch Jack settle in next to him. It was a tight fit, but no worse than the interior of the little two-man tents they carried on missions. And when Jack smiled at him just before blowing out the candle, Daniel was happy to lie in the humid darkness and listen to Jack's familiar breathing pattern. When he was sure Jack was sound asleep, he shyly reached out and rested his hand against Jack's shoulder, its solid warmth reassuring him in this dark and alien place.

Bird song woke him, and the smell of something faintly sweet cooking. It was finally light, and maybe they'd finally get some answers.

They took turns in the small bathroom, the servants ferrying in jugs of hot water for them to wash up in. The three from earth shaved, and Thor again came to watch Jack; Daniel could hear their conversation as he sat on the floor in the hallway and took notes on all they'd seen and heard thus far. "So the hair on your face does not stay the same length?" Thor asked. "Does it hurt to cut? Do you ever injure yourself removing it?"

"Yeah, but there's no toilet paper here so I better not," Jack said, and Daniel laughed to himself.

The light was hazy with humidity, and water dripped from the eaves outside the dining room. Today they could see through the open windows out into the jungle, and Daniel felt again how very isolated they were. Not just from earth; he was used to that, but from any place on this world. Anything could happen here.

He glanced at Thor who this morning had chosen to eat his chalky cubes rather than the breakfast provided by the Ha. Daniel still hadn't had a minute alone with the other inquisitors, and was beginning to believe that was by design. There was so much he wanted to ask them.

When breakfast ended, Ki-riv-Ha joined them at the table, and the servants brought them drinks in the same round cups he'd used last night. Daniel glanced at Jack, who shrugged and picked up his cup. "Welcome to Ha," Ki-riv-Ha told them. "The inquisitors will begin this morning. Colonel and Major, you will be sequestered from the proceedings. Please follow Ki-kheu-Ha so we may begin."

"Wait a minute," Jack said, sounding uncannily like John Wayne.

Daniel held up his hand. "I think we all have some questions, Ki-riv-Ha. First, where are we?"

"In Ha."

"In Ha. Ha that used to be Na-song, or Ha that used to be Vong-sa?"

Ki-riv-Ha stared at Daniel with some hostility. After a moment, he said, "Vong-sa."

"So we're not in the original country where all this began?"

"All is Ha."

"All is Ha _now_," Daniel clarified, "but all was not Ha _then_."

Ki-riv-Ha nodded, reluctantly.

"With whom will we be meeting?"

"Citizens of Ha."

"From Na-song Ha, or from Vong-sa Ha?"

"All is Ha," he repeated, and Daniel thought he recognized more than sullenness in his answer. Ki-riv-Ha was getting angry.

"I'm afraid I'm confused," he said, spreading his hands as if in apology. "I thought we would be meeting with many people, from Na-song, from Vong-sa, and from Dhiarm as well."

"All is Ha."

"Excuse me, Doctor Jackson," Davis said. "Ki-riv-Ha, the agreement was that Colonel O'Neill would be present during all sessions of the inquisition. He is under orders to accompany Doctor Jackson everywhere. I'm afraid that it is out of the question for him to disobey a direct order. We cannot permit Doctor Jackson to attend the inquiry, no matter when or where it's held, without Colonel O'Neill present."

"No need." Ki-riv-Ha made no attempt to hide his anger now. "Insulting. Go. We start."

His excellent English was fraying, Daniel thought, and glanced at Davis. Was that his plan, to anger Ki-riv-Ha so much that he would reveal something? They'd had no opportunity to talk since they'd first stepped through the stargate, however many days ago that had been.

Daniel was surprised when Omoc said, "Major Davis is correct. This is in violation of our agreement. The Tollan were quite specific in their demands. The inquiry was to be held near Ebru. That's on the border between Na-song and Vong-sa," he told Daniel. "Furthermore, Colonel O'Neill is to remain with Doctor Jackson throughout. We would prefer Major Davis to attend the sessions as well, but if that isn't possible, O'Neill must be there."

"The Asgard would not have agreed to abide by the Tollan system of jurisprudence unless these conditions were agreed to," Thor added, and Lya nodded.

Ki-riv-Ha protested, "All is Ha. Ebru not good place for inquisition. We begin."

Daniel knew from his reading what had happened in Ebru thirty years earlier, and was anxious to go there. He had a map in his bag. Maybe the six of them could find someplace to eat and talk without Ki-riv-Ha hovering over their every word. He nodded and looked at Jack; they should go to Ebru.

"We," Jack started, and was silenced by a brilliant flash of white light. Thor, Daniel thought, and smiled. When he opened his eyes, they were standing in an unpaved and very busy street, pedicabs cycling furiously past them, the drivers shouting imprecations at their sudden appearance.

"Oh, dear," Lya said, and urged them out of the street. The Ha were, Daniel could see, stunned by their sudden teleportation.

"Pretty cool," Jack told Thor admiringly, and Daniel nodded in agreement; he could feel a big smile on his face.

"The agreement will be kept," Thor said mildly. "There was a famous accommodation here, prior to Year Zero. Perhaps it will still accept guests?"

"The Erwhn," Ki-riv-Ha said, still staring around him in shock.

"Yes, the Erwhn. This way." Thor led them, Jack protectively at his side, although, Daniel reflected, he couldn't imagine anyone who needed protection less than Thor did. He had transported them very near the Erwhn, and Daniel was glad to climb the wooden steps up to the hotel or hostel or whatever it was, and get out of the heavy dust of the street.

The noise dropped, too, when they entered, and suddenly the shouts of the vendors and hawkers were muted. Their luggage, he saw, had preceded them; several men were standing around it, eyes wide.

"Thank you, gentlemen," Major Davis said, striding through them. "We'll take care of this now."

Ki-riv-Ha began shouting in his own language, and the men scattered, some bowing and gesturing that they'd carry the bags. Eventually, they were escorted up stairs, the steps many and shallow, and into a winding corridor. "Here," Ki-riv-Ha told them sullenly, thrusting back a hanging curtain and showing them into one room. Well, Daniel thought, looking around him, at least they were in Ebru.

The floor was splintered and dirty, the sleeping platforms broken, and the pillows dusty, with spindly feathers poking out of shredding holes. Jack flopped down on one which promptly collapsed under him. "Nice job, Thor," he said. "But why didn't you just, uh --"

"_Poof_," Daniel suggested.

"_Poof_ us earlier?" Jack continued at the exact same moment.

"It was an important part of the procedure to learn what the Ha would do."

"I expected no less," Omoc added sourly, and even Lya nodded.

"Let's get out of here," Daniel suggested, pulling the map from his pack and holding it up. "Find someplace away from that creepy Ki-riv-Ha, someplace we can talk."

"He's right outside the door, Daniel," Jack pointed out, and Daniel blushed. Well, eavesdroppers never hear good things about themselves, do they.

Thor said, "I would like to walk these streets, meet the people. These are refugees from Na-song, but they didn't run far enough."

"Apparently not, since all is now Ha," Jack said grimly, and they went out, trooping past Ki-riv-Ha, who glowered at them but didn't attempt to stop them.

Daniel felt better out in the streets. The atmosphere reminded him of many cities he'd visited in Third World countries on Earth. Busy, as if mere busy-ness could mitigate the poverty of life. And perhaps it could. Certainly, poverty could be measured in many ways, and perhaps the sheer number of people filling the streets was a measure of some success. Thirty years ago, every citizen of Ebru had been driven from the city; those who had hesitated had been killed. Those who had walked too slowly had been killed. And now Daniel walked slowly through those very streets.

But as he walked, dodging pedestrians and pedicabs and the oxen-mastadges and pathetic piles of pathetic goods and people sleeping on the street or peeing in the gutter, women washing broken crockery in mud puddles, naked toddlers screeching in play, Daniel saw how thin, even frail, the citizens of Ebru were. Their clothes were rags, and many were entirely nude except for token strips of cloth. Many were missing a leg or an arm and occasionally both.

They passed no stores for any kind of merchandise, heard no engines growl, saw no paper or trash of any kind. Daniel had seen in parts of India that there was no such thing as trash; absolutely everything was used and reused and used yet again. He knew that was due to extreme poverty.

After nearly thirty minutes, Omoc said, "I do not believe we will find what we are looking for here." Daniel agreed, on several levels. Certainly they'd find no outdoor cafe, no bar, no Ha-equivalent of a diner. Nor did he think they'd find any privacy. They were being followed, ostentatiously followed, by more of the black-clothed Ha that they'd seen at the big house.

"Shit," Jack said, lifting his foot and grimacing, and Daniel thought he was right. This was shit, literally and metaphorically: a shitty place and a shitty situation.

"Let's go back," Daniel said, defeated. Lya and Thor both looked tired to him. Omoc looked his usual disgruntled self. Daniel had grown up in the midst of great poverty; even as penniless archaeologists, his parents had been wealthy compared to his Egyptian playmates. He recognized that not everyone had experienced the presence of abject poverty, and certainly it was a debilitation to the spirit. Jack had served in the Middle East, and Davis in Bosnia-Hercegovina; they had seen towns like this. Omoc, Thor, and Lya had not, that was obvious.

The six off-worlders turned and faced the Ha tailing them. Daniel had to smile; did they think they'd attack? Jack strode forward, passing right through them, even shoving one with his shoulder, but they only followed them back to the Erwhn.

Ki-riv-Ha was waiting for them, sitting patiently in their room; Daniel wondered if he'd searched their luggage. Ki-riv-Ha watched impassively as they shared their rations with each other, all but Thor; Sam had warned Daniel about the little cubes. Only when they'd eaten did Jack turn to Ki-riv-Ha and say, "Yeah? What next?"

"Since you have decided the inquiry should be held near Ebru --"

"Excuse me," Daniel said sharply. He looked at Omoc. "My understanding was that the Ha had agreed the inquiry would be held on the border."

"You are correct, Doctor Jackson. As Ki-riv-Ha well knows, since he was one of the signatories of the agreement," Omac said.

After a brief silence, Ki-riv-Ha said, "Since the inquiry will be held near Ebru, we need one day to prepare. Stay here till ready."

Omoc said, "The Vong-sa need to be present, as do the Dhiarm. I would like to contact the representatives I met with when the agreement was signed. Arrange that for us."

Ki-riv-Ha hated Omoc, Daniel thought. But he nodded his head. "One day," he repeated. For a moment, Daniel thought he'd leave, but then he added, "Liars are everywhere in Ebru. Listen well, Inquisitors. Ask many questions. Believe few answers." He rose gracefully and finally left them alone in the shabby room.

"One day," Davis said, and shook his head. "Omoc, this is a farce. Forgive me, but why did the Tollan agree to participate? It strikes me as very unlike you."

"The truth is never wasted," Lya said gently.

Omoc stared at Davis before saying, "We agreed to an inquiry only. Perhaps we can learn something here."

Thor said, "It is good to learn about our neighbors." Only the Asgard, Daniel thought, would consider a tiny country on a podunk planet to be their neighbors. Their scope was so big, their concerns so many. He met Jack's glance and they smiled their approval.

"Neighborly love and all that," Jack said, "I would kill for a shower."

"I have observed that clean water is scarce here, O'Neill," Thor said. "Fortunately, human body odor is not offensive to me."

Jack rolled his eyes, but Daniel laughed out loud. "As long as Lya and Omoc don't object."

"And if you do, too bad," Jack said.

Lya smiled and said, "I wish to rest now."

It was still early and Daniel was still curious about Ebru. He looked at Jack and nodded his head toward the door; both men got up, Jack stifling a groan. "We'll be out for a bit. Anybody want to come?"

Davis said, "I'd like to go over Doctor Jackson's notes, and perhaps ask Omoc some questions, since he's the only one ever to have visited Kheusong-ha before." Omoc nodded less than graciously.

"Thor buddy? Feel like a walk?"

"Thank you, O'Neill. I believe I will rest as well. Be careful."

"Yes," Davis said. "Do."

"Yes, do," Jack mimicked once they were back in the street. Daniel elbowed him reprovingly.

"Hey. Major Davis is a good guy."

"Yeah, he is. Just."

"I know." And Daniel did know. Jack liked to be in charge and, although he was the senior officer here, he was hardly in charge of the situation. He didn't like that, and he'd take it out on the others if they let him. Well, never on Thor or Lya, of course, but Daniel, Davis, and Omoc, and Davis didn't deserve it anymore than he or Omoc did.

Just the two of them on the streets of Ebru made a difference, Daniel discovered. They didn't seem to stand out quite so much. They were able to slip between the oxen-mastadges and the people more easily. They turned down a narrow street off the main drag and things suddenly got quieter. The buildings were dilapidated to the point of collapse, and many were entirely gone, like teeth missing in a skull. Jack stopped to examine one badly damaged structure and said, "Mortar fire. See?"

It was hot and hazy and humid. Daniel wondered if the sun ever really came out on Kheusong-ha or if, like Venus, the planet lived beneath a blanket of fog or smog or smoke. The air smelled heavy, that was the only word for it. Heavy with moisture and the fragrance of the encroaching jungle and the poverty around them.

Another opening between two buildings invited them into the jungle that had crept right up into the city here, a peninsula of wilderness. The tottering houses under the enormous trees seemed to have been more protected that the ones out in the open, and there were even scraggly patches of grass and an occasional sad flower.

The scent of water rose, coiling like mist around them. They slowed and peered into the houses they were walking past; on one side of the alley, they could see straight through them, into a tiny canal brimming with tiny round boats, like coracles, many filled with fruit and vegetables. "I think it's a market," Daniel said wonderingly, and they stopped.

A tiny elderly woman saw them and gestured: Come here, come here. Daniel started right out, glancing behind him to see if Jack was following. They walked through what had been a home and out onto a rattling wooden pier. Compared to the people here, they were giants, and Daniel squatted next to the woman.

"Ai va ats Ebru ke n'vrai?" she asked, but Daniel could only shake his head. He pulled out his pen and journal and wrote "hello" in the language of Vong-sa, but she only laughed and pushed playfully at him. Well, that made sense. If thirty years ago the Ha had destroyed all mechanical and electronic devices, all technology, they probably would have abolished education, too. Or perhaps it was forbidden, as it had been on Abydos. It didn't matter.

"Sey ma nek ke ersitsan ko," she said, and then called out something. A young man rose and stepped from one of the coracles and motioned for them to follow him.

"Thank you," Daniel said, and shook her hand. She smiled toothlessly at him and Jack as she returned to her mending, humming to herself.

They followed the young man a short ways, moving carefully between the many people working on the dock and talking quietly to those in the coracles. He knelt among a group of people and said a few words, nodding toward them. Daniel knelt beside him and smiled. "Hello," he said in the first pause. Pointing at himself, he said, "Daniel." Then he pointed at Jack and said his name.

The people nodded and smiled and murmured among themselves, but made no such introduction. They cleared a space and patted the silvered wood: sit, sit, and they did, squashed in together. Then a young woman, very slim, left for a moment and returned with an ancient lacquered tray. On it were two tiny pottery bowls, and in them what looked to Daniel like boiled grass floating in murky water.

He looked at Jack, willing him to follow Daniel's example. Jack's eyes widened, but he didn't move or speak. The young woman knelt next to Daniel and murmured, "Eritsan-jo ko," and handed him the bowl. He held it gingerly, watching her closely, and she mimed lifting it to her lips. Again she lifted her hand, and he this time obediently swallowed the soup down.

It was appalling, bitter and sour and hot all at once. Probably high in vitamins A and C, he thought. Maybe related to oxalis; he'd had wood sorrel soup once, and it was nearly as bitter as this. Then she held out a bowl to Jack who without hesitation drank it down. "Thank you," he said, and Daniel thanked her, too.

He dug in his pockets and found a candy bar, a 5th Avenue, of course, so he held it out to her. "Please take this. Thank you for your hospitality." Hesitantly, she accepted the candy, but clearly had no idea what to do. As he had with Kasuf so many years ago, he tore open the wrapper and smelled it luxuriously. "Mmm," he said, and, like her, mimed eating. She took a tiny bite and her eyes popped wide.

"V'rai!" she said, and passed the chocolate around.

"Good job, Daniel," Jack murmured, and they grinned at each other.

They stayed with their new friends a while longer, Daniel anxious to learn the language. "V'rai" clearly meant good. The "n" in "n'vrai" seemed to be an interrogatory, or perhaps turn the entire word into one. By the time Jack pulled him away, Daniel had a small vocabulary started and was trying to match what he heard with what he'd been reading for the past few weeks.

They got a little lost trying to find their way back to the Erwhn, but Daniel was already feeling more confident about the language, and the name was enough to elicit directions.

"How are we gonna spend another day in this dump?" Jack asked.

"Exploring? I'm trying to work on the language; it would really help if I could hear more of it."

"We can do that. Maybe we can get Omoc to come with us and figure out what the fuck is really going on."

Daniel nodded but said nothing, just climbed the steps of the Erwhn. Jack caught his arm before he crossed the porch, though, and they sat on the steps, watching the street scene before them.

Jack's lanky body pressed close to Daniel's, and he relaxed into the familiarity of his heat and scent. They'd always done that, right from the beginning; they were so comfortable with each other. Daniel had often wondered why, and always decided that it didn't really matter. What mattered was he'd found someone he could be comfortable with. And that, he knew from long years of experience, was rare. Jack and Sha'uri: they were the only ones in the galaxy.

Jack sighed and scratched his chin. "Not where I'd want to vacation," he finally said, and Daniel nodded.

They sat for a few minutes more, but the heat and dust were too much and Daniel began to cough. Jack clapped him on the back, and he sipped his water, but it was just too dusty. "Let's go in," he wheezed, and Jack helped him up.

They returned to their shared room. Lya and Thor were talking quietly with Davis; Omoc was staring into what Daniel assumed was the Tollan equivalent of a Palm Pilot.

"Miss us?" Jack asked, and sat down next to Thor.

"Of course," he said. "You are my favorite humans." Daniel laughed and sat next to Jack.

"Well, you're our favorite Asgard," he reassured Thor. "And Lya is our favorite Nox, and Omoc . . . Omoc is Omoc," he finished, smiling at Omoc, who understood what he meant and nodded gravely, unoffended by honesty and perhaps disarmed by Daniel's smile.

"That Ki-guy still hangin' around?" Jack asked the room. Omoc shook his head, never raising his eyes from his handheld. "Then you think it's okay to talk here?" Omoc shook his head again, still silent; Jack sighed dramatically and flopped back onto the pile of his and Daniel's backpacks. Thor watched him affectionately, exchanging amused glances with Daniel.

He lay back, too, and stared at the ceiling. He could see hazy grey sky at one corner, and hoped Ebru didn't have a monsoon season any time soon. The entire building was constructed out of a dark wood, ill-cared for and splintering with age. The only window was basically an oblong hole in the wall covered with shutters, now loosely closed but with the louvers half-open. They were furred with green, as were the corners of the room and along the baseboard. A sad, impoverished room, too small for six people. The stinky toilet was down the back stairs and outside, and there didn't seem to be bath or shower facilities, just a basin and ewer.

The entire country probably didn't have running water. That seemed to be the point of Year Zero, Daniel thought. To completely undo the infrastructure that makes a tribe into a modern nation. All destroyed. He remembered the cratered roads they'd jounced along in the early part of their journey, and the ruined buildings he and Jack had seen and walked through in Ebru. Was there any industry left? Had that been a hidden market, some free enterprise taking place behind the government's back?

So frustrating, not to know more of the language. Tomorrow, he promised himself, he would spend all day out in the streets, listening and taking notes and trying to talk to the citizens of Ha. Jack would be bored, but tough. If Jack got too bored, maybe he'd be left to wander alone, or maybe Major Davis would be assigned to babysit him. Davis would be less likely to complain about boredom, no matter how bored he was.

He closed his eyes. Nothing to do until then. The silence was immense, the heat as heavy as fear, and he sweated himself into sleep.

How does Lya look so clean and fresh? Daniel wondered over breakfast. The staff of Erwhn had brought them a tray of fruit and shown them how to peel and section it, and the six off-worlders had again shared their rations. Thor tried the fruit, but preferred his chalky cubes; Omoc ate it as he did everything, stoically; but Lya smiled with pleasure and licked her fingers.

Finally, Daniel returned to the streets, this time with Major Davis accompanying him. Jack stayed to murmur his concerns to Omoc and Thor, their heads bowed together in Jack's perhaps vain hopes for privacy from the Ha and to elicit useful information from Omoc. Daniel glanced fondly at his grey head as he left; Jack looked up in time to smile goodbye.

"The colonel will eviscerate me if anything happens to you, Doctor Jackson," Davis warned him before they left the relative security of the Erwhn. "Please stay alert, and let me do my job."

"Major Davis. Get over it." They exchanged looks, and Davis smiled.

"He's the superior officer, Doctor Jackson. Nothing will change that. Don't expect me to be insubordinate."

"I'm not," he said, and went outside into the hazy morning. Fog steamed up around them; he could barely breathe. "Just don't expect me _not_ to be insubordinate."

Davis sighed, and said, "If you're going to get me into trouble, I think you better call me Paul, don't you?"

"And I'm Daniel, please." They smiled at each other as they walked out into the street. Already it was busy, but Daniel had been there long enough to recognize the busy-ness as a kind of restless energy that had little to do with getting anything done. It was the nervous energy of an invalid, of someone impatient for something to happen but knowing nothing will. "I need to hear the language," Daniel explained, and they stopped at street corners, where knots of people gathered to argue. They found a barber working right in the street, with just a chair and a pair of scissors. Lots of people bartering homemade cigarettes, using printed paper for the wrapper -- Daniel would love to see what books looked like on this world, and wondered if they were ripping pages from them for cigarette paper. There was no currency, he knew, but they saw fruit and small sacks of grain being exchanged for services, so an informal barter system was in place.

Although Daniel was catching more and more words and phrases, and quickly learned the inflection of a question or a demand, the language reminded him of none from Earth. He wondered where these people had come from, or who had given them their language. It didn't seem to be derivative of Goa'uld; what could it be?

As the morning progressed, the crowds grew thicker. Again, he found himself slipping sideways through the crush, following as closely as he could. Occasionally they'd be separated, and he'd hear Paul call his name. It was annoying, but he didn't want Jack angry at Paul, so he waited, turning in a circle, trying to find Paul, and then they'd start out again.

Suddenly, the young man from the previous day appeared. Daniel towered over these people, and he had to tug at Daniel's arm before he recognized him. "Yes, hello," he smiled.

"Danyel," the young man said, and Daniel beamed. Pointing at his chest, the young man said, "Pon."

"Hello, Pon."

"Lo," he said, and gestured urgently.

"Paul," Daniel said over his shoulder, "this way." He followed Pon's rapid plunge through the throng, losing him once. Then Pon returned; his thin fingers circled Daniel's wrist and he pulled him on, around a corner and then another, into a tiny alley, so narrow they went single-file. Daniel really did feel like the giant here; even the houses were too small for him, if these ramshackle and skeletal buildings were houses.

He turned to be sure Paul was following them and caught sight of his face, frantic and a bit angry. "Paul!" he shouted, and waved with his free hand. Paul pushed through the crowd, and then Pon tugged harder and Daniel stumbled, looked at his feet to catch himself, and then looked up as they turned into a battered wreck of a building, just two walls leaning against each other, the remains of the roof beneath their feet. In the corner where the two walls met, someone had strung a flimsy cloth, and Daniel realized he was looking at someone's home. Then they were outside again, this time alone.

He had no idea where he was. There was no river here, and the jungle had been cut severely back and burned, although no grain or rice grew here.

He stood and looked around him. Pon was gone. Paul was nowhere in sight. He rubbed the back of his neck and turned, and saw Ki-riv-Ha, silently watching him, smoking a tiny cigarette.

"Hello," Daniel said awkwardly. Ki-riv-Ha nodded at him, carefully extinguished the cigarette, tucking it away into a pocket, and straightened.

"Welcome," he said. "We talk. Our guest here, must talk. These others," and he gestured with one hand, but Daniel had no idea what he meant. "We chose you, from Earth, because you understand."

Paul appeared just then, Daniel's own angry deus ex machina, practically steaming in his fury and fear. "Doctor Jackson, Ki-riv-Ha," he said cordially, as if meeting them at an embassy function. "Colonel O'Neill is expecting us." Invoking Jack -- that was below the belt, Daniel thought, and smiled ruefully at him.

"Yes, he is," he agreed mildly. He nodded politely at Ki-riv-Ha and followed Paul back, winding their way back to one of the narrow streets.

"Daniel," Paul said at last, but Daniel held up his hand.

"I needed to see what would happen if I'm going to do my job."

Either that was undeniable, or Paul was too angry to continue the conversation, and they made their way back to the Erwhn in silence, pushing through the crowds but managing to stay together, arms brushing as they walked. At one corner, Paul took his elbow and maneuvered them through the thickest cluster of pedicabs and pedestrians, as if Daniel would be spirited away again, right there. As perhaps he might be, Daniel acknowledged. He certainly had been earlier.

At last, they reached the Erwhn, where Jack and Thor were lounging on the front steps. A crowd of Ha surrounded them, oohing at Thor, talking excitedly among themselves. Daniel sat next to Jack and eavesdropped, piecing together the language, but Jack nudged him.

"What happened?"

"Ki-riv-Ha," he said. Jack raised his eyebrows.

"I don't trust that man," Paul said.

"What did he want?" Jack asked Daniel, who shrugged.

Jack looked irritated and pulled off his sunglasses, but Daniel was used to him and ignored the gesture. He turned to Thor. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Doctor Jackson, we want you to discover things. Consider this your role in the inquiry."

"Wait a minute . . ." Jack started, but Daniel held up a finger.

"No, it's all right. It's what I do. As a linguist, as an archaeologist. And now as an inquisitor."

Thor made the facial movements that Daniel had come to interpret as a smile; in this case, an approving smile. Jack rolled his eyes, but remained silent. Daniel knew he'd never agree to Daniel wandering off on his own, but maybe he'd let him ask questions now.

So this is my job, Daniel thought later that day, strolling through Ebru with Omoc and Jack on either side. Omoc looked more sour than usual, but why not? It was a terrible place.

The next was the same as the prior day, and the day before that -- hot, hazy, humid. A smeary grey sky, the air smelling of water and earth and greenery and shit; how strongly the latter smelt depending on which part of Ebru they strolled through. The main street wasn't too bad; the smaller side streets a bit stronger; the tiny alleys overwhelmingly pungent.

Daniel felt more confident today; he was here by invitation of the Ha, more so than the Tollans, Nox, or Asgard were, since they'd been brought in by other countries. So he stopped to visit the barber again, and the cigarette-seller, and someone repairing a pedicab. They were anxious to understand him as he gestured and mimed, feeling Jack and Omoc's sardonic eyes on him, but the Ha nodded and gestured in return, and his vocabulary and confidence grew.

He discovered he was known. He was the inquisitor. He was, to his amusement, the _jak_. He thought it might literally mean "to seek," but wasn't sure yet. At any rate, he was Daniel Jackson, jak, and many called out to him: _Jak_, _jak_. Jack, of course, nearly wrenched his neck in response to the calls, and that made Daniel smile, too.

"I can't believe we're both Jack," he kept complaining, until Omoc said, "It might interest you to know, Colonel, that in my language, a _jak_ is a kind of bird. A particularly noisy and annoying bird, actually. There are none on new Tollana, of course, but on our last world, they were a common pest."

"You're shittin' me," Jack said, and perhaps Omoc was.

The next morning, Ki-riv-Ha reappeared. "One day," he told them, his English suddenly not very good.

"Wait a minute," Jack started, but Paul gave him a look.

"Ki-riv-Ha, it was our understanding that the inquiry would begin today."

"One day."

"So it will begin tomorrow?"

"One day."

Paul looked at Jack, who ran his hands through his wiry hair, and looked at Thor.

"Ki-riv-Ha," Thor said quietly, and the Ha straightened, no doubt remembering how Thor had magically transported them to Ebru. "It was our agreement that the inquiry would begin today, was it not?"

"One day," he replied, but swallowed. "Must prepare. Prepared at last house, not this house."

"Where will the actual inquiry take place?" Daniel asked.

"On the border," Thor said.

"Yes, border. One day."

"Then we'll leave today," Thor told him. "We will be waiting on the steps in seventy of your minutes."

Ki-riv-Ha stared at him, and then bowed. "Seventy minutes, yes. Steps. One day." He left.

"Nice work," Jack said. "But I thought we were on the border."

"Not quite. I had us transported here because Ebru is clearly visible by our sensors. We had heard of the Erwhn. But the actual inquiry was to be some miles from here, at a refugee camp next to the bridge crossing into Na-song."

"So we'll go today, whether they're ready or not."

"Inquisitor Jackson?"

"I agree, Thor. We need to be there, to see what's happening there, why the delay."

Jack looked cross, but Daniel thought he'd look cross about anything under these circumstances. "So these Ha are lying sons-of-bitches," was all he said, though. Daniel agreed with him.

They packed and were out on the steps in about thirty minutes by Daniel's chronometer, and in another ten, a cart pulled by two oxen-mastadges drew up. Ki-saloth-Ha was driving them, and Ki-pong-Ha sat next to him. Ki-riv-Ha was not with them; Daniel wondered whether he was getting ready for the inquiry.

At any rate, they climbed aboard, all six of them in one cart this time, and Ki-saloth-Ha shouted at the creatures that began to pull. For a moment, Daniel considered getting out and walking, but he knew Jack would veto that idea, so he stayed still, and soon enough the creatures had the heavily-laden cart moving and they were creaking their way down the main street, the pedicabs racing by. The barber waved a dirty towel at them, shouting, "Eh-ya, jak!" Daniel waved back, smiling at him.

So strange, he thought as they rocked along. The poverty here was breathtaking, terrifying, yet people still got haircuts, they still smoked, they still said hello and goodbye. Humans, for these people clearly were descended from humans, were resilient creatures, amazingly so. He shook his head as he watched a woman squatting by the side of the road, wiping a dish with a dirty scrap of cloth. Nearby, a baby howled indignantly, its tiny ribs banding its chest with every gasp. Even here, life renewed itself, tried for something more, something better. Something else.

They left Ebru behind, and the road narrowed into a tunnel of green; they had to duck to avoid being smacked in the face by the graceful arching branches and dangling vines. Some insect whined like a buzz saw, and the air grew even heavier with humidity.

After about ninety minutes, Ki-saloth-Ha jerked on the reins and the cart slowed to a stop. He jumped out and disappeared into the bushes. "Pit stop," Jack guessed, and climbed out, helping Lya down. Daniel helped Thor, who seemed grateful to be on solid ground again.

"Interesting mode of transportation," he said. "Very ecologically sound, but ergonomically problematic."

"I agree," Jack said, stretching his back, and Paul nodded ruefully. "Um, excuse me," he said to Lya, and motioned for Daniel to follow him. Paul came, too, and they forced their way through the dense underbrush just far enough to be out of sight of the others. "Oh, god, that ride is killin' my kidneys," Jack said, pissing happily.

Daniel just closed his eyes and enjoyed the release. The noise of the cicadas or whatever they were nearly drowned out Jack and Paul's conversation, and he let himself fall into the sustained droning, continuous, unvarying, carrying him off from the here and now.

He opened his eyes to zip and realized they'd gone. "Jack?" He hastily tucked himself back in and turned around. "Paul?" He pushed his way back through the bushes, getting swiped in the face hard enough to hurt. "Shit," he mumbled, wiping his mouth. "Jack! Goddammit."

Suddenly he burst through the bushes onto the road. Nothing. He stared at a pile of fresh dung; the cart had been here, he knew it.

"I hate it when this happens," he said, and starting walking in the direction they'd been headed. "I'm gonna fucking kill you, Jack O'Neill," he muttered. "If you think this is funny, you can think again." Imprecations and expletives filled the time as he swung along, trying not to be worried about what had happened to his friends.

~ ~ ~

Jack leaned against the side of the cart, resting his head on his arms, dozing despite the bouncing as they rolled along. It was so hot, so humid; he could barely keep his eyes open. Let Daniel and Davis keep watch for a while; they were younger. He'd delegate that responsibility to them for the next bit. Just long enough for a nap.

His chronometer indicated nearly three hours had passed when he woke from all the shouting the driver was doing. They had stopped, and were at the edge of an encampment; the cart waited at a ramshackle gate where more and more of the Ha were gathering. Beyond the gate, tattered lean-tos made of thin sheets of transparent blue plastic and some kind of flexible pole bobbed in the light breeze. Jack idly wondered how they managed during a bad storm.

He turned to ask Daniel what he thought, but Daniel wasn't there. Jack hopped out of the cart, causing the arguing men to stare at him, but he ignored them and stretched, then turned around, looking for Daniel.

"Colonel O'Neill," Davis said. Jack looked up at him, shading his eyes against the glare. Davis was standing up in the cart, turning in a small circle. "Where's Doctor Jackson?"

"You didn't see him get out? Anybody see him get out?" When no one responded, Jack shouted, "Daniel!" More people stared at him, and his heart began to race. "Daniel!"

"Inquisitor Jackson?" the driver said, and Jack realized he looked worried, too. What was his name? Salome? They exchanged glances, and Salome began speaking intently to the others, who starting looking around, too.

"What the fuck is going on?" Jack asked, sounding surprisingly calm to himself. "Didn't he get out? Did he have to take a leak? Daniel!" How could they lose a big guy like Daniel among all these little guys? He stood out like a bear among them when Jack had watched him walk up the main street of Ebru. "Fuck," he muttered, and wiped the sweat out of his eyes.

He climbed back into the cart and started rummaging through his vest for the radio. Thor put his small hand on Jack's, and he looked up into his face. "Where's Daniel, Thor? You got them fancy sensors on your ship. Just _poof_ him right back."

"O'Neill. Inquisitor Jackson is doing his job. I ask you to give him some time. He will return to us."

Jack slowly sat up, pulling his hand away. Lya looked a little abashed, but Omoc regarded him steadily. "What the fuck did you do, Thor? Lya?"

"We asked for Daniel for a reason," Lya explained softly, and Jack realized the Ha had surrounded the cart and were listening. How much English could they understand? What would they do?

"Because he's good at questions," Jack finally said, and Lya smiled approvingly. Yeah, the very young sometimes get it. And to the Nox, Jack was younger than Daniel, he knew. They didn't appear to measure age the same way he did. He took a deep breath and looked at Davis, who appeared as rattled as Jack felt.

"You're asking us not to do anything about a missing colleague?" Davis asked the other inquisitors. "This violates more regulations than I can count. We were specifically instructed to abide by SGC and military regulations; you can't expect Colonel O'Neill and I to sit idly by while Doctor Jackson is missing."

"He is well," Thor said confidently, and Jack felt his muscles relax minusculely.

"Did he know?" he asked suddenly, and felt his blood pressure shoot up again. If Daniel had known and not told Jack, he was going to -- he didn't know what he was going to do, but something.

But Omoc and the others were shaking their heads. "We would not have asked Doctor Jackson to keep such a secret from you," Thor said. Jack took another deep breath, trying to shake off his dread. Goddammit. Daniel, alone on this weird world. He looked back down the road, at the thick jungle, and into the dull sky. Oh, Daniel, he thought. Be careful. Find your way back.

The Ha returned to their argument, and eventually the gate was opened. Its raspy squeak brought the camp's inhabitants out en masse, and as the cart entered the camp, it was soon surrounded by the most desperate individuals Jack had seen in his long life. Emaciated creatures, so wasted he couldn't always tell who was male and who was female. Strips of faded, shredded cloth hung from their bony shoulders, tokens to represent clothing, he knew. They stared out of dull damaged eyes, and he wondered what he looked like to them. The big ignorant alien. He'd played that role before, but with Daniel to interpret and mediate for him.

He glanced at Davis, whose face reflected the sadness Jack felt at these people's situation. "Who are these people?" he asked softly.

Omoc said, "Refugees from Na-song."

"No Na-song. Ha," the driver said, Salome or whoever he was. "Ha only. All Ha."

So he spoke English, too. Jack raised an eyebrow at Davis, who nodded. Be careful, they silently said to each other, and then he returned his attention to Omoc, who said, "They are refugees from what used to be Na-song. The inquiry is to take place here. Where is Ki-riv-Ha?" he asked the driver.

Much milling around, much talking among themselves later, Salome said, "Here soon. One day."

"One day," Jack muttered, and then laughed. This was ridiculous. What the fuck had they gotten mixed up in? Where was Daniel? Why wasn't Jack with him? Why hadn't Thor arranged for both of them to ask these questions?

But Jack knew the answer to that particular question: because he never would have asked them. He would've marched them through the jungle, up the road, right into the camp, and fuck any mysteries.

He looked back down the road again, hoping to see a solitary figure loping toward him, hair gleaming in the glaring light of this world he wanted to leave. But the road remained empty, and he sat alone as the cart began to move again, jouncing further into the camp, past the staring people who should wrench at his heart, who would wrench at Daniel's heart were he here.

"He will return to you," Thor said, and Jack nodded, but kept his eye on the road behind them.

~ ~ ~

Daniel oscillated from fury to fear every few steps of the way. At least the road, though damaged and narrow, was clear. He could even make out the recent tracks the cart had made. He'd tried his radio, but only static burst from it; no Jack. How could they have just left him? He couldn't see Jack agreeing to that; had they been kidnapped? Injured? He walked faster, trying to calm himself. Jack was a tough guy, the original tough guy. He could take care of himself. He'd be all right.

Daniel was sweating in the thick humidity, and his tee shirt was soon drenched through. He wiped his face on its hem and tried to calm himself. He would just follow the cart's tracks. If Jack needed rescuing, well, then Daniel would rescue him. If not, he'd kick Jack's ass for leaving Daniel behind, intentionally or not.

But he knew in his heart that Jack would never leave him behind, and that knowledge whipped him on, despite the oppressive heat.

The road grew narrower and more overgrown. He had to push his way through the hanging branches and lianas, snugging his boonie to his chin so it wouldn't be pulled off. He was grateful he was still wearing his BDUs and not the nice suits he'd foolishly brought along, and his heavy Air Force-issue boots. Were there snakes on this world? Not Goa'uld, but vipers? He shuddered in the heat and walked a bit more slowly, watching the ground.

The road grew worse, opening to enormous potholes that he was pretty sure had been caused by some kind of weapon. Mortars? Shells? He wasn't sure what the difference was. Maybe he should have Jack teach him. Would there be mines?

He froze, one foot in the air. Jesus, what if there were mines? He could lose a foot, a leg, his life. Fuck. Then he realized that the cart had passed this way; if there were mines, surely they would've chosen another route. He rolled his shoulders, trying to relax them, and gently put down his foot. Took another step. Another. And then was walking again, carefully, but walking.

"Jack! Jack!" someone called. He looked up; he'd been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't realized there were people here. Good. Maybe Jack was here.

But no, they were calling him _jak_, the seeker. He was surrounded by a half dozen men, very short, very thin, but alive and lively. One took his hand. "_Jak_," he said urgently, and then a lot more that Daniel caught only fragments of. He permitted himself to be pulled along, off the road and into the brush. The Ha surrounding him carefully held the branches back so he wouldn't be struck by them, so he progressed easily.

He began to smell something. Something sweet and nasty and familiar.

Then he put his foot wrong and looked down as he caught himself. He'd stepped on a bone. A femur. A human femur. He looked at the man pulling on his hand, who was saying in Ha "This way, this way," while the others pointed and gestured. He slowed, but continued. He already knew what he'd see. Why they needed a seeker.

Then they broke from the jungle into a clearing, another artificial clearing, like the one he'd seen outside of Ebru. Chopped and burned back. He paused for a moment, and then raised his eyes.

A mountain of bones, with foothills of bones rising to it. The stink came to him as he was drawn nearer. Archaeologists rarely had to deal with decomposing flesh. He stopped again. He cautiously moved closer.

Slowly he turned his head, trying to encompass the magnitude of what he was seeing. He counted quickly; in a three-foot square area, five pairs of femurs, six pelvic girdles, five ulnas, three skulls. And the field was enormous. As large as a football field, he estimated, but his mind refused to do the math. He didn't want to know how many bodies were here. He didn't want to see this. He hadn't sought it; he wasn't the seeker.

"Who did this?" he asked the man still holding his hand, forgetting in his distress the Ha words.

"See, see," the man said in Ha. Witness, Daniel thought. He wants an outsider to stand witness to this. So he straightened his back and studied the field. Shit, his video camera was in his backpack, which was in the cart. He gently released himself from the man's grip and patted his pockets, finding an envelope and some three-by-five cards and a mechanical pencil. He kicked at a log; when no nasty creature emerged, he sat on it and began to sketch. The other men crowded behind him, pointing and making encouraging noises.

When he'd filled the back of the envelope with his careful sketches, he tucked it away into a pocket and stood. "Must go," he told the men, who nodded. His purpose had been served, he saw; several of them left, picking up tools they'd laid down. Handmade, chipped stone, the heads wrapped by vines. Year Zero.

They bowed to him, and he bowed back, then turned and left that awful place.

He walked on, happy to be away from the smell of rotting bodies. He knew the Ha had done that. He was still in Vong-sa, although near the border. He wondered what Na-song would be like, if he would be permitted to enter that country. Had the Ha turned on their own people, cannibalized them to create their new utopia? Or was the field of bones retaliation for something the Vong-sa had done?

He would never know. As an archaeologist, he was comfortable with ambiguity and ambivalence; it was the nature of his work. But Daniel still craved certainty. One reason he loved Jack, he knew, was Jack's certitude. He found it a comfort in an uncertain world.

He walked for another hour before he saw anyone. To the right this time, and he saw them before they saw him. He slowed, not wanting to alarm them; a small encampment of fewer than a dozen people. They had a small fire going, and a pottery bowl set near it, heating something that scented the heavy air. Their meal, perhaps.

One of the women saw him and gave a startled cry. He froze, not wanting to frighten them any more. They all jumped up, all but one man who was missing a leg. Daniel raised his hands, trying to indicate harmlessness, but he was so much bigger than they were. So much healthier, so much better fed, so much better dressed. He was ashamed before their poverty.

"Eshi, eshi," he murmured, and bowed, and they relaxed slightly, bowing back.

"Eshi, jak," one said, and he realized he was known here, too. How could they know him? But he was probably the first off-worlder they'd ever met; of course they'd assume he was one of the inquisitors. They gestured for him to sit, and he did, pulling out another candy bar to share since the last one had gone over so well. They offered him some of their soup, which he accepted; it tasted like hot water flavored with lemon grass and stones.

He heard a baby crying, and twisted around, looking for it. In the shadows, a young woman sat rocking it, murmuring softly to it. He smiled at her, and said, "What's your baby's name?" casting in his mind for the words in Ha. He pointed to himself and said, "I'm Daniel," and then pointing to the baby.

She smiled at him shyly and said, "Savong." Not Ki-savong-Ha, he noted, and smiled back. "Savong," he repeated. "Mshaya Savong," beautiful Savong, but she stopped smiling and turned away.

He looked at the others, most of whom had dropped their heads. One little girl studied him curiously. What had he said? Maybe Savong wasn't the baby's name? Maybe "mshaya" didn't mean beautiful? Or was the wrong gender? He leaned forward toward her, murmuring, "Lala, lala," sorry, sorry.

"Jak a beshwa?" You're the seeker? He nodded, puzzled. She looked down at the baby again, and sighed. Then she slowly uncovered the baby, and Daniel saw it had no arms. Just smooth skin where the arms should be.

He felt hot and cold and dizzy all at once. For a moment, he froze in place, unable to resolve what he was seeing. Then he knew. Like Agent Orange, the Ha had used something. Oh god, was it in the water? He'd drunk their soup, he'd shared their food. He discovered he was trembling. Was some awful agent even now working in his body, changing him? Damaging him? Fuck. Jack would fucking _kill_ him.

The thought of Jack calmed him, though, and he remembered that, here, _he_ was the _jak_. The seeker. He was supposed to see this. He reached out and gently touched the baby's face; it wrinkled its tiny nose, and smacked its pink lips. Just a baby. Just another innocent. "Mshaya," he murmured, and he meant it. "Mshaya."

She gently covered the child again, and he sat back down. After a few more minutes, enough to be polite, he rose and bowed to them, and then continued up the road.

The cicadas droned on, the sun beat down through the sultry sky, and Daniel walked on, deaf and blind to the world around him. He suddenly knew that his being left behind hadn't been an accident at all. Ask questions, Thor had told him, Lya nodding at him encouragingly. Ask questions. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

He walked on, more determined than ever to follow those instructions. Out of all the people on Earth, he had been chosen. He would do as they asked. He would ask. He desperately wished Jack were with him, though. Daniel missed Jack's sturdy presence and quick wit, although not even Jack would find anything amusing about what Daniel had seen.

The next group of people he saw, he again approached slowly, with his hands up. And like the others, they knew him. "_Jak! Jak_!" a little one cried, and ran to its mother. He heard, "Jack! Jack!" of course, and nearly turned around, hoping to find his friend, but remembered again that he was the _jak_. He bowed deeply before them, honoring what they'd survived, and they, too, welcomed him to their camp. A working party, he discovered, spending days out in the jungle foraging for a kind of fruit. They showed him the enormous trees on which it grew, and how they used chipped rocks to knock it down, while the children retrieved the rocks and fruit.

Eat, eat, one man mimed, and showed Daniel how to break open the fruit, which was as soft and sweet as custard, with a slight tang of green apple. "Very good," he told them honestly, and they smiled, happy to share their bounty. He left them another candy bar, the next to last one, and wished he'd brought an entire case of them with him. Well, he still had several granola bars and two tiny bags of dry-roasted peanuts.

He left them and went on, alone for a long time. It was late afternoon before he saw anyone else. A tall thin figure, taller than anyone he'd seen here yet, stood in the deepening shadows, motionless, hands folded, head slightly bowed. Daniel slowed and walked to it, then bowed himself. "Eshi, eshi," he said, but when there was no answer he raised his head curiously.

It was a statue. Sculpted out of ancient rock, something like limestone, he thought, running a practiced hand over its features. The face was worn by age to mere gestures toward a mouth and nose, but the eyes had been deeply chiseled and appeared to be looking into Daniel's. "Who are you?" he murmured, and looked around.

There seemed to be a path leading into the jungle. Impossibly narrow for someone Daniel's size, more like a deer path, but it was lined with white pebbles and only a few leaves had drifted onto it. He stepped off the road and into the jungle; suddenly it was dark. The pebbles gleamed and he followed them, winding deeper into the brush.

He came to a stone ledge, under which was the remains of a fire. Cold, he discovered, putting his hand into it, but clearly man-made. Smoke had darkened the interior of the ledge, so a much-used campfire. He squatted there, wondering what to do, when he heard a slight sound and turned, rocking back onto his butt.

An ancient man stood before him, utterly nude. He was tiny, withered, wrinkled, and very dirty. What little hair he had was grey, including his sparse pubic hair. "Um, eshi," Daniel said, and bowed his head.

The old man squatted before him, giving Daniel an even closer view of him than he'd ever wanted, and pointed. Daniel followed his arm and saw what he thought was a well. The man made a shooing gesture, so Daniel rose and fetched him a bucket of water from the well, kneeling at the low stone barrier, peering into it first, wondering what poisons it held.

He filled a clay pot the man had set on the stones around the fire, and watched as he quickly sparked a flint into a tiny flame and then blew steadily on it till it caught the paper-dry leaves. Daniel gathered twigs and carried them back; the old man nodded approvingly and began slowly feeding them to the fire till it was a steady beacon, heating the water.

Daniel tried to introduce himself again, but the old man ignored him. Night fell quickly, an utter darkness Daniel was reluctant to venture into, so he remained by the old man's side, staring into the fire with him. The buzzing insects had fallen silent, and all he could hear was the crackling of the little fire.

He pulled out another granola bar and offered it to the old man, who accepted it dubiously. Eventually, the water began to steam, and his host dropped bits of dried grass and twigs into it. Tea, maybe, or more stone soup. It smelled strongly, like fresh-mown hay, a sweet and powerful odor. Pleasant, really, he thought, and bent down, sniffing at it. The old man chuckled and, when Daniel raised his head, his glasses steamed up, the man winked at him.

Following the man's gestures, Daniel poured the tea or soup into two smaller cups, trying not to burn himself on the heated pottery. He split a bag of peanuts with his new friend, sipping at the tea as he ate. He kept having to spit out the leaves and twigs, but the old man crunched them between his few remaining teeth, smacking his lips in enjoyment.

When they'd finished, the man tossed a handful of something onto the fire, smothering it into a smoky mess. Daniel turned his head away and coughed, but the man stuck his head right into the smoke and inhaled deeply. Daniel backed away and watched him; he rubbed his face vigorously, almost as if he were washing in the smoke. At last, the smoke dissipated and he, too, sat back, looking very satisfied. Then he lay down, right there, and promptly fell asleep.

Daniel decided that was a good idea. He tucked his glasses into a pocket, curled up, and closed his eyes. Please don't let any bugs crawl on me, he thought, and sighed. He wished he were with Jack again, he wished he were listening to Jack snore instead of this strange old man of the forest. George of the Jungle, he knew Jack would name him, and he smiled.

~ ~ ~

Jack had a hard time falling asleep that night. Despite Thor's and Lya's assurances that Daniel would be all right, that this was why they'd requested him on this mission, Jack disapproved strongly of their methods. Why not just tell them their plans? Davis disapproved, too, he could see, but kept his mouth shut. Davis wrote for a long time in his journal, no doubt recording everything that had happened. The scratching of his pen on the paper reminded Jack of Daniel, almost unbearably so, and finally he rolled away, closing his eyes, wishing he could close his ears.

He woke much later, when it was completely dark. The camp was quiet, although not silent, not with this many people crammed into this small a space. He could hear someone talking, someone moaning, something rustling in the jungle. It was still hot and he felt oppressed by the weight of the humidity, which had grown as night had come on. When he looked across the camp, he could see mist curling from the ground, reflecting the few fires still burning.

He lay back down, on his back this time, and stared into the nearly starless sky. How weird, not to see the Milky Way arched across the sky, the absence of its familiar constellations reminding him how far he was from home. He and Daniel had spent many evenings on the roof of Jack's house, peering through the telescope. Not that Daniel could see worth shit through it; his glasses seemed to get in the way. But he could make out the brighter stars, and they'd had some good times sitting there.

He thought about losing Daniel. How could they just drive off and leave him? Lya had to have cast some spell; he knew enough about the Nox to know she could do that. They could hide entire cities from the Goa'uld, and he'd seen Lya hide an ion cannon, so she could certainly hide Daniel from Jack. Still, he felt like an idiot. Just another stupid Tau'ri.

He sighed and rolled again, so he faced the fire. To his surprise, he saw Daniel crouched over it, watching something intently, although Jack couldn't tell what. He looked dirty and sweaty and tired, but well. Not obviously injured, at least. He had that slight smile on his face, the one that meant he was secretly amused but didn't think it was polite to let anyone know he was amused. Too bad for Daniel his face was like a pane of glass and every emotion shone through.

He watched Daniel sigh and lean back, as if moving away from something. Then he took his glasses off, curled up, and closed his eyes. His lips moved silently; was he praying? That seemed very un-Daniel-like. Jack sat up, wanting to move closer to Daniel, but he had vanished. And then Jack realized he wasn't sitting up at all, he was still lying on his back. It had only been a dream.

He turned his head to check; their fire was out. Daniel wasn't here. He was still out in the jungle somewhere.

~ ~ ~

Daniel turned in his sleep, hot and sweaty. He twisted on the ground, trying to get comfortable, and sighed heavily. In his dreams, he saw malformed children: armless, legless, eyeless. He saw bones grow flesh, arms and legs unbind, eyes un-blindfolded, bodies and skulls reforming from the bludgeoning that had cast them into that open grave. He saw ragged clothes reappear and mend, dancing as they leapt onto the bodies. Faces filled and fattened and began to smile. He saw Year Zero roll back, saw the Ha move back into the larger world, into when they were the Na-song. He saw something like cars fill the now-paved streets of Ebru, and restaurants opening, and bookstores, and theatres, and private homes, and civic centers. All returned in his dreams, an entire nation of life blooming before him. Children raced through the streets, old folks sat at cafes and watched them, merchants prospered, artists throve. And politicians lied.

He flopped over, sighing deeply, then snorting the dust from his nose, nearly waking. Sweat rolled down his face and matted his hair; he was working hard, in his restless sleep, recreating all that Na-song had lost, that so many had lost.

The smell of rotting bodies came to him, drifting like the hazy sunshine, filling the sky of Ha. Their putrifying remains sank into the soil, poisoned the water. Equipment rotted, too, discarded and destroyed. Books made of a water reed and bound with a synthetic fiber were burned, engines of knowledge lost forever. The infrastructure collapsed, and sewage ran freely through streets into rivers. Hospitals were deserted, doctors killed, medicines discarded. Nothing ran from taps, nothing from power sources, nothing from nothing from nothing.

Daniel twisted again, groaning. Oh god, he was sick. He opened his eyes and realized he had to shit _now_. He barely got his trousers down in time. Fuck, fuck, he knew better than to drink the water, eat the local food. Oh god. And all his western medicines were in his backpack. He bowed his head over his knees, miserable. He'd had dysentery a couple times before, when he was younger and more careless, and knew how dangerous it could be.

When he had voided all he could, he staggered away, kicking off his boots and trousers, and used his underpants to clean himself. Fuck, he muttered again, and threw them into the bushes. He went back to the fire; the pot still had some water in it, and he used that to wash his hands. The old man woke and watched him, wrinkling his nose at Daniel. "Yeah, well, I don't much care for it myself," he told him.

He felt better now. Maybe it was just a bug? Something he'd eaten? He lay back down, shivering in the wet heat. His trousers lay a few feet away from him, but he didn't care. He really didn't care.

He felt light-headed in the morning, but at least his bowels didn't fall out of him. He slowly pulled on his trousers, grimacing at the notion of hiking for miles without any underwear. The old man was gone. Daniel found the tiny trail back to the road and left as quickly as he could.

It was still very early, and long shadows fell across the road. Birds called flamboyantly; it was like being in sub-Saharan Africa, he thought, or Indonesia, the overwhelming fecundity of plant and animal life. Every now and then, his lower abdomen would cramp up a bit, but not bad, and after an hour or so, when he did have to stop again, the need wasn't nearly as urgent and the results nowhere near as distressing. So maybe it wasn't dysentery. Maybe he would live through this.

He came to an enormous clearing; a hundred yards across it, a gate and carelessly constructed guardhouse stood. Beyond them was some kind of encampment, with dilapidated shanties and tents scattered haphazardly across the bare ground. Not a blade of grass remained, and flying insects swarmed noisily.

No one seemed to be in the guardhouse, so he slipped through the gate, wondering why on earth he was breaking into a prison. The hinges screeched when he opened the gate the foot or so he needed to get through, but still no one accosted him. In fact, for all the evidence of habitation, he didn't see a single person. Had they all been killed, too? Was he going to find yet another field of bones?

Walking through the stinking site, he saw it bordered a cliff from which ran a narrow, rickety bridge. Made of some bamboo-like material, it swayed across the river below. He walked to the edge of the cliff, to the bridge, and stood there, staring across. Into the abyss, he murmured to himself. He knew he was looking into Year Zero.

"Daniel?" he heard, and turned around, one hand on the bridge. Jack was standing a few yards away, staring open-mouthed at him. "Jesus fucking Christ, Daniel? Is that really you?" And suddenly he was in Jack's arms, in one of his rib-crushing hugs, and Daniel hugged him back, so grateful to see him again. "Fuck, is that you?" Jack kept asking, slapping his back, slapping his face, hugging him again. Daniel let himself be mauled, happy that someone was so happy to see him. "Where the fuck have you been? What happened? Jesus Christ, I've been out of my mind with worry."

"Sorry, sorry, but hey -- you left _me_. Why the hell did you just drive away?" Daniel started to get angry.

"No, I didn't, it was all a plot by the Asgard and them. Goddamn Thor and Lya, I dunno, put a spell on me or something. They said you had a job to do and I couldn't help." Daniel thought Jack sounded almost bereft, so he hugged him again.

"I know, Jack," he whispered. "I know you wouldn't leave me. I just couldn't believe it when I got back and the cart was gone."

"Think how I felt when I woke up and you weren't there. I wanted to kick Thor's ass all the way back to his home world."

"But you didn't."

"Naw. He's littler'n me. Wouldn't be a fair fight." Jack slung an arm around Daniel's shoulders. "Let's get back to the others. I think the inquiry's about to start, and Davis has been having kittens about you being gone."

"Paul?" Daniel asked disbelievingly, but let Jack drag him back into the camp. "What is this place?" he asked in dismay.

"Nasty, isn't it?" Jack said grimly. "A refugee camp. That's Na-song over there," and he gestured behind them, across the bridge. "These folks managed to get away."

"So we're in Vong-sa? But I thought it was all one country now."

"Yeah. All is Ha." Jack's lips thinned in disgust. "I don't think the Ha have as much control over things as they want us to think. And I know they didn't want us to see this. Thor insisted, though."

"So what's going to happen next?"

Jack shrugged. "Guess we'll find out. Damn, I'm glad to see you in one piece."

"Well, actually, I could really use my backpack. I need some, uh, stuff."

"What stuff?"

Daniel rolled his eyes, but admitted, "Pepto Bismol. Imodium AD."

"You've been sick."

"As a dog."

"Shit, Daniel."

Daniel began to laugh. "Well, yes, actually, now that you mention it. Quite a lot."

But Jack didn't laugh. "That's not funny. You could've died. I really am gonna kick Thor's little grey butt."

"No, it's all right. I'm pretty sure. Although I'll be glad to see Janet again."

Then Daniel saw the inhabitants of the camp. There were hundreds of them; it was a good-sized small town. They sat in an enormous circle, creating their own amphitheatre, and in the center sat Thor, Lya, and Omoc. This was the inquiry? Sitting in a fly-blown, shit-strewn field?

To one side was Paul Davis, who wasn't supposed to attend, but where would he go? Would his presence be a problem later? Directly opposite him were Ki-riv-Ha and his men. Paul looked up and visibly had to restrain himself, Daniel saw, from rushing through the crowd to them.

Ki-riv-Ha saw Paul's aborted movement and turned; he looked simultaneously stunned and relieved to see Daniel wading through the crowd toward them. Daniel gave a little wave, feeling foolish, but it was nice to have been missed.

When he reached the others, Thor said, "Doctor Jackson. It is good to see you again. Did you ask your questions?"

"I did. I learned a lot, too." Daniel looked at Ki-riv-Ha, who was staring at him with some hostility. "I'm sorry, Thor. I don't know if what I learned will help here today."

"Perhaps not, Daniel," Lya said. "For there is much to learn here. But we may learn enough for the inquiry."

"Maybe," he said, and sighed, glancing at Jack, who hadn't left his side. "What's going on?"

"The inquiry has begun," Omoc said. "We are about to call the first witness."

"Okay. Where do you want me?"

"There." Omoc pointed to the dead center of the circle of people.

After a few seconds, Daniel understood. "I'm the first witness." He gave one last look at Jack, who patted his shoulder, and then he stood before the crowd. They made a soft moaning noise, and Ki-riv-Ha began to shout.

"No! No, not witness. Our choice. Earth _our_ choice. Our side."

"You may ask him any questions you wish," Omoc said, and Daniel suddenly saw the Omoc who presided over the Curia, a man of great personal power and not afraid to exercise it. Daniel raised his head and looked away from Ki-riv-Ha into the audience.

"Let them ask me questions," he said, and Omoc smiled.

"You'll need to translate for me," he told Daniel, who nodded, thinking how absurd this was. Then Omoc raised his head and looked at the crowd, who stared back. "We are here to learn more about how the Ha came to power, and what Year Zero means to the people of the nation once known as Na-song.

"We are the inquisitors. We have no power other than to ask questions, and to bear witness to your answers. We will carry your answers back to the world, to the Year Not-Zero. Beyond that, we will carry your words back to the stars from which we come. We will hear you.

"This man," and Omoc pointed at Daniel, "is our seeker, our _jak_. He has met with you, in Ebru, and on the road between Ebru and here. He is a wise man, wise beyond his years, and learned in many languages." Daniel blushed as he translated, thinking he probably sounded like a two year old in the Ha language, but a woman at the edge of the crowd smiled reassuringly at him, and he was calmed. "Speak your hearts to him. Tell us your stories, and we will carry them home with us.

"Speak," he said, and abruptly stepped back, leaving Daniel alone in the circle. His stomach rumbled ominously, and he glanced at Jack, who nodded, and jogged away. The Pepto please, Daniel tried to communicate telepathically to him, and returned his attention to the crowd waiting for him.

"Speak," he repeated after Omoc, and smiled encouragingly.

The woman who smiled at him stood. She was probably no older than Jack, but she was frail to the point of fragility, her face scarred and part of an ear missing. Her hair was thin and her pink scalp showed through the little she had remaining. "We would speak to you, _jak_," she told him, her voice hoarse as she strained to speak to the entire camp. "But can you swear no harm will come to us if we do?"

Daniel turned helplessly to Omoc. "She wants to know if you can guarantee there'll be no repercussions from the Ha if they do speak to you?"

Omoc shook his head. Daniel's heart wrenched. "Then I won't ask them," he said, his voice shaking. He stretched his hands to them. "I won't risk them."

"If they don't speak, Daniel, then no one will know their stories," Lya pointed out.

"If they do speak, they'll be hurt even more." He turned back to the woman. "I'm sorry," he said, lost in their expectant faces. "I can promise you nothing but to hear your stories. If you do speak," he glanced at Ki-riv-Ha watching complacently, "then you might be harmed."

"No harm," Ki-riv-Ha said in English, and then repeated it in Ha. "No harm to speak to these kind people you come so far to hear."

Daniel thought he was the biggest liar on this or any planet he'd ever stepped foot on, but remained silent. The crowd remained silent, too. Daniel's stomach gurgled, more insistently this time, and he closed his eyes. It was getting hotter as the sun rose, and sweat rolled down his sides. He wanted to go home.

He opened his eyes to see the woman sit down. No one else stood. The silence was as oppressive as the heat.

He didn't know how long he stood there, isolated from the others, stared at by the impoverished refugees from Na-song. Long enough to realize he hadn't eaten anything that day, and that, despite the ominous noises his lower bowel was making, he was hungry. He saw Jack making his way back to him, carefully picking his way through the seated crowd.

Jack hesitated at the periphery for a moment, trying to understand what was going on. The silence dragged on, eternal, Daniel at its center. At last, Omoc said, "We do know what happened here, Ki-riv-Ha."

Ki-riv-Ha bowed. "We reversed time. Left history behind us. A new world, filled with new people."

Daniel couldn't accept that statement. "And this," he gestured out at the crowd silently watching them. "This poverty, this malnourishment? Is this part of the new order you are building?"

Ki-riv-Ha shrugged. "They left. Had they stayed home, all would be well. All Ha well."

"All Ha _dead_," Daniel said, nearly spitting the words out. In Ha, he said, "I have seen, Minister Ki-riv-Ha, what your new order brought. I have seen the mountains of bones. I have smelt the rotting flesh. I have walked through the destroyed villages and towns. You kill and you kill, but you do not build. Year Zero is Year _Nothing_."

The crowd stirred, and suddenly Daniel knew what _jak_ meant. Seeker, yes, but Finder, too. And he had found. He was the witness, the one witness who could speak without repercussions. He discovered he was shaking, and his stomach began to cramp. "I have seen," he shouted in English, and then switched back to Ha. "I have seen. I will tell not just your world, but the universe. I speak for these people! I do!" He bent over in pain, his eyes filled with tears, and Jack's arms were around him, leading him away. Paul was there, too, patting him on the back, and the two men nearly carried him through the silent crowd. "Need to be alone for a minute," he gasped, not wanting them to see him like this, but they bullied him along as far as he could go, helped him remove his trousers and then stood in front of him, facing the crowd, giving him as much privacy as anyone could achieve on that barren plain.

"Oh, god," he moaned, "I knew I shouldn't have eaten that stone soup," and he laughed because otherwise he would cry at the humiliation and pain. "Fuck."

"It's okay, Daniel," Paul said, surprising him. "I had typhoid fever in Bosnia. You lose a lot of your inhibitions after something like that."

"Don't worry, Daniel," Jack added. "I'll kick you from here to Tollana once you're recovered. I can't believe you drank the fucking water."

Paul's refusal to be embarrassed and Jack's comfortable ire helped, as did the pills they forced down him when he was through, and the entire bottle of water Jack had him drink.

Lya insisted Daniel rest, so they remained at the camp for another day. As he lay under a make-shift lean-to, resting against his backpack, some of the refugees shyly made their way to him. Jack and Paul kept the Ha away from them, and even Omoc stood silently behind them, staring ominously into the men's faces. Thor and Lya took turns keeping the flying insects away from Daniel and silently watching as people came to him; Daniel knew they were learning, too.

The people said very little to him, frightened, no doubt, of being caught by the Ha. Many petted his head diffidently; one put a tiny carving of an ox-mastadge into his hand. Several asked for his blessing, which embarrassed him terribly, but he lightly touched their foreheads and wished them well in Abydonian, feeling it was a better language for such wishes than English or Ha.

He had to shit again in the early evening, but he could tell he was recovering. Jack helped him this time, and he wasn't nearly as embarrassed. He supposed he'd shit that out of himself, too. Besides, lying in camp all day, he'd seen a lot of that; the refugees had no niceties like privacy or toilets. Just the ground they lived on, the water they washed in. The entire camp was an open sewer. There was no room for shame here.

Daniel slept next to Jack that night, relieved to once again hear his soft snoring. Like any other mission. He lay on his back and stared up at the empty sky and wished he were home, wherever home might be. Anywhere but here.

Daniel dreamt he was back on Abydos, dozing in a hammock with Sha'uri, who curled into his side. "My husband," she murmured, and kissed him. "You must remember my story always. You will speak of me, tell of me?"

"Always, dear one," he reassured her, and she smiled that beautiful smile that brought tears to his eyes. "I will never forget you," he whispered. "I will honor you always." She kissed his eyes and wiped his tears, and faded into the morning mist and heat.

Jack was watching him, eyes narrowed. "You all right?" he asked gruffly, and Daniel nodded, his throat constricted with emotion. "Let's get ready. Sooner we get outta this dump, the happier I'll be."

~ ~ ~

Jack watched Daniel obsessively on the return trip. He wanted to ask Thor to _poof_ them back, but figured Thor had his reasons why he wouldn't. Something political, maybe. Or he wanted to save the bad juju for when it was really needed. And Jack trusted Thor, even now, after all that had happened. Which just proved, he decided, that stepping through the stargate softened the brain. But he sat quietly next to Daniel, made sure he drank his fluids, arranged for lots of discreet stops, and waited for whatever was going to happen.

Daniel was improving, Jack could tell. He still had a slight fever, and wasn't sweating enough, but Jack kept plying him with bottled water and made sure he rested. At one point, Daniel had his head in Jack's lap, dozing; for a while, Jack was a little embarrassed at being seen like that by Major Davis, Joint Chiefs of Staff liaison, but he'd decided Paul was good guy, and he certainly liked Daniel. So he jettisoned his embarrassment and let Daniel sleep, making sure the sun stayed out of his eyes.

The trip back to Ebru was made uneventfully, in just over half a day. All four Ha remained with them, including Ki-riv-Ha, who said nothing to them but glowered occasionally at Daniel. Jack wondered if he'd get in trouble with his superiors for what had happened, letting Daniel slip away like that. Not that he could help it; no one could withstand the Nox's illusions. But he hoped Ki-guy was in hot water, he really did.

They stopped another night at the Erwhn, staying in the same room. Daniel was able to get a sponge bath, and looked significantly better afterwards. "How we gettin' back to the Humvee?" Jack asked Thor, who refused to answer, just ate another pink cube of whatever. And so back into the ox cart they went, but this time only to the river where the barge they'd sailed on waited for them, stinking of diesel or whatever fuel these people used. It's a wonder they don't fucking row the thing, Jack thought sourly, staring at the slimy water, rainbowed by the effluvia of the water traffic and whatever shit was being dumped into the river.

On their third day down the river, they started seeing people on the shore. Daniel stared at them, and at a map he had. "We're in Na-song," he said, and looked Omoc and Thor. Omoc nodded. "We're in Year Zero. Jack," he started, but Jack was already up and moving onto the deck. They stared out at the banks sliding by.

This was not, Jack saw at once, a prosperous country. Whatever Ki-riv-Ha believed or said, Year Zero had proved a disaster here. The banks on either side of them were high, but they could occasionally see people and shacks at the top. The people along the river were certainly poor by anyone's standards. They stared listlessly out at the barge. Some seemed to be fishing, which disgusted Jack; this was not a river he'd eat fish out of. The pathetic homes were shanties that would blow over in the first strong wind, and he wondered how often they had to be rebuilt.

They watched all day. Davis joined them for much of it, he and Daniel commenting to each other about what they were seeing, and both men took copious notes. Daniel videotaped and also sketched some of the encampments they chugged past. Jack noticed he had other sketches, too, on scraps of paper tucked into his journal, and wondered just what Daniel had seen that he'd felt compelled to record.

It was a silent trip down this ugly river, but Jack didn't feel any need to break the silence. He went to bed that night grateful for his many blessings, and included Daniel safe at his side as one of the more important blessings in his life. Thank you, god, he thought, wondering to whom he was praying, and lay sleepless for many hours.

~ ~ ~

Daniel found observing the poverty along the shore was marginally less painful with Paul and especially with Jack at his side. He could somehow divorce himself from what he was watching. Having the video camera helped, too; watching through the viewer was even more distancing and permitted him to nearly forget they were people, living their lives here.

But there were reminders. Someone would suddenly look up and there'd be a face in the viewer. A child, crying. An old man, hand on his lower back. A kid, staring listlessly at the barge escaping them. Those faces he remembered, and he knew he was watching human beings, just like him. Except not like him at all, since they had to stay behind while he floated out of their vision and lives.

On their fourth day aboard, something happened to the barge's engines. They shut off suddenly, and the subsequent silence was stunning. Everyone turned back to look. "Sounds like a sheer pin," Jack muttered, and Daniel could see he was tempted to peer down into the engine with the Ha. He stayed next to Daniel, though, where he'd been ever since he'd found Daniel at the bridge into Ha.

They drifted for a while, and then slowly slid into the bank, its vegetation grabbing at the barge like tentacles. Jack grabbed one of the lines and jumped out, tying it off quickly; Paul followed suit, and soon they were snug against the bank. It was muddy and slippery, but solid ground, and Daniel was happy to climb overboard and squish his way up to the higher ground to peer over the embankment.

He sat quickly, right in the mud, turning his back to what he'd seen. Jack saw him duck, and crawled up to him. "What is it?" he whispered. Daniel couldn't speak. He shook his head, and took Jack's hand in his, hanging on tightly. "Jesus, Daniel, you're scaring me," Jack said. The others were noticing now, and Daniel knew he had to do something.

"Don't let the others come up," he said, his voice alien to his own ears. Jack twisted back and motioned commandingly: Down. Down. Ki-riv-Ha stared sternly at him, but Paul turned and herded Thor and Lya back into the saloon. Omoc shook his head at them but remained on deck.

"What is it?"

Daniel looked into Jack's eyes. He didn't want to see what was on the other side of the embankment, but he had to. He was the _jak_, the seeker, the finder, the witness to Year Zero. Taking a deep breath, he rose and, still holding Jack's hand, climbed back up.

"Oh, fuck," Jack said. For a moment Jack hesitated, and Daniel dropped his hand, not wanting to pull him into this. Then Jack followed Daniel out onto the plain surrounding the river, into the land of Year Zero.

Daniel took no pictures, made no sketches of what they saw. The two men never spoke of it to each other. Daniel mentioned it only in passing in his briefing to General Hammond when they finally returned to earth. But they saw. They chose to see. They chose to witness.

Before them lay a flat and dusty plain, devoid of any vegetation; the circumference was lined with half-burnt trees and mounded with hacked-back jungle undergrowth. At first, Daniel couldn't really understand what he was looking at; then he realized that he didn't want to understand. He didn't want to know.

The bodies lay everywhere, mounded like the chopped-back undergrowth, and just as carelessly heaped. All dead, he hoped, but as the images resolved, he saw tiny movements in a few of the bodies: an almost imperceptible lift of an emaciated chest. The flicker of an eyelid. The roll of a yellowed eye. Around every wrist he saw, around every ankle, was a tight loop of barbed wire.

His heart seemed to jerk in his chest as the images became clearer, and he realized that more of the bodies were still alive, and that some were aware of his presence. A few feet from him, someone's head rolled back, just an inch or so, enough to bring him into the person's vision, and he forced himself to meet the staring eye. Jaundiced and lined with flies, it looked fixedly at him before slowly closing.

Breathing was difficult; the stench clogged his nose and mouth and his horror clogged his throat. The air itself tasted foul and dying, poisoned by the evil before him. There was no sound.

All these people, Daniel thought, were silent victims of the Ha's social engineering. Or was this punishment? Or perhaps collateral damage, to be expected when a society reinvented itself? Already dead or patiently dying in the humid, hazy sun, mere skeletons clothed in flesh and nothing else, lying silently, silent in the mud, silent in their death. The only sound was the flying insects that rose in swarms as Jack and Daniel's passage disturbed them, settling quickly back to their task. Most of the people were already dead, and small predators were making them even more invisible than they already were.

Men and women; children and aged, all were here. All were Ha, now, in this field. Daniel witnessed, knowing he was witnessing for more than the Ha, for more than Kheusong-ha, for more than the Tollans, and the Nox, and the Asgard. He was witnessing for all. All really were Ha, he thought, trying not to breathe. He pulled his tee shirt up over his mouth and nose and tried to breathe through it, remembering the scent of his detergent and fabric softener. But that was lost to him here.

Jack took his hand again, and Daniel hung onto it, sweating in the sultry heat, swallowing back his bile, trying to see it all, to absorb it all. That was his job; he was the _jak_. He'd accepted the task and he would see it through to the end, even if it meant seeing this.

And Jack remained with him, refusing to leave Daniel alone in the midst of this nightmare of death and dying. Daniel was moved not only by the suffering of these people but by Jack's courage. "Is there anything we can do?" he murmured, and wasn't surprised when Jack shook his head. What could they do? They had no supplies. They had no power. They stood at the edge of that field, on a literal border of life and death, clinging together, obscenely healthy, Daniel thought, obscenely wealthy, and obscenely powerless.

Without words, Jack and Daniel returned to the barge, whose engine was running again. He put one arm around Daniel as they slid down the muddy bank to the river, where the Ha aboard were waited impatiently for them, Ki-riv-Ha looking especially irritated with the delay. They said nothing to the others, who didn't ask, although Paul looked both curious and concerned. When they settled back into the saloon, Lya offered them a drink from a beautiful flask; it was sweet and sharp, like mead, Daniel thought, and he took another drink of it.

"I won't forget," he promised her when he handed back the flask, and she nodded.

"I know you won't, Daniel. That's why we asked you." Jack stirred beside him, one hand still on Daniel's shoulder, but remained silent.

The next day they reached the port where they'd been dropped off so long ago. The Ha version of the Humvee was waiting for them to take them back to the airport; this time, the return trip was uninterrupted. Within three days, they stood before the stargate.

"What will happen next?" Daniel asked Omoc. "Do I need to present my findings to the Curia?"

"Write your report, Doctor Jackson. We will send for you in a few of your weeks. Narim will come this time. I believe he would like to meet with Major Carter again."

He turned to Jack. "Colonel O'Neill, thank you for accompanying us. Your presence was invaluable. And you, Major Davis. I hope your government saw what it needed to see."

Paul looked doubtful. "Probably not," he said softly, and Daniel realized that Paul knew what he and Jack had seen when the barge had broken down. That Paul had known all along what they would find. There was no great social experiment, no utopia to be found. Not this way. This way led only to Year Zero.

The event horizon whooshed open. "Our stop?" Jack asked, and Omoc nodded. "Wish I could say it's been fun."

"Good bye, Colonel O'Neill," Omoc said. Lya kissed Daniel and smiled at the other two men. Thor said, "Farewell, O'Neill. Doctor Jackson. Major Davis. I will see you again." And then they stepped through the gate.

"A hot shower," was the first thing Jack said on the other side, and Daniel grinned.

"Last one in," he said, but of course General Hammond had them shepherded to the infirmary first, and then Sam was there, hugging him despite his stink, and Teal'c, looking relieved, and Fraiser, happy to be doctoring healthy people, and Daniel remembered the crushed cookies in his backpack.

Sam and Teal'c took Daniel out to dinner the next night, curious about what had happened. "The colonel won't talk about it," Sam explained over Italian food and a bottle of a very good Merlot. "Just says it was stinky and had too many flies."

"Well, it was that," Daniel agreed, sipping his wine. "It really was one of the nastiest places we've been, worse than Hadante in some ways." Sam made a face; Teal'c looked offended.

"Why would the Tollans agree to this?" he asked.

Daniel shrugged. "Omoc said they thought they might learn something there. Although what I can't imagine." He shook his head. "I learned that terrible poverty and privation is the same throughout the galaxy, and I think we already knew that."

"O'Neill told me you were ill."

"No, well, yes." Daniel felt himself color at the memory. "Just, you know, I shouldn't have drunk the water."

"Janet said you were dehydrated and that your electrolytic balance was off."

"Janet should respect patient-doctor privacy," he retorted, but smiled. "Yeah, it was, um, unpleasant. But I was lucky. I thought Jack was going to kill me, though."

"O'Neill was very concerned for you."

"He told you that?"

"He came to me during my kel-no-reem today to share his concerns." Teal'c ate steadily, but Daniel stared at his empty fork. He hadn't meant to worry Jack that much. But it was his job. He was the cultural liaison for the SGC and he'd been the _jak_ for the inquiry.

Daniel sighed and began eating again. The food was good here, and he hadn't been back long enough to take quality and quantity for granted.

The next day he went to see Jack, working in his office, a cold cup of coffee on his desk. "Hey," Daniel said, lounging in the door, and shivered in pleasure at Jack's smile.

"Hey."

He pointed at the coffee. "That looks awful. Can I buy you a fresh cup?"

Jack stood and stretched. "Oh, yeah. Anything to get me outta here."

"You wanna go into town? A real coffee house?"

"Leave the base in the middle of the day? Why, Doctor Jackson, what a bad influence you are."

"I try. I've had a good role model for years."

Jack laughed and picked up his jacket. "I'll defer to your coffee expertise," he said, and Daniel led the long way up and out of Cheyenne Mountain. They took his car for a change, and when Jack didn't protest, Daniel remembered what Teal'c had said, that Jack had been worried about him.

Once they were settled at a table, their drinks steaming before them, Daniel quietly said, "You know I'm okay."

"I know," Jack said carelessly, and took a sip. "This is good."

"Yeah, they roast the beans themselves. No, really, Jack. I'm okay. I'm completely well. I'm not, I don't know, psychologically damaged by what I saw. It's okay."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "So you say."

Daniel huffed, but remained silent, drinking his own coffee. He studied Jack's face, half hidden behind his cup, and saw that he'd lost weight. Even though Daniel had been the one struck by dysentery, Jack had lost weight.

"You're not okay," he whispered. Jack rolled his eyes, but didn't answer. "Jack." Daniel heart began to race. "What is it?"

"Daniel. Just let it go."

"Have I _ever_ let _anything_ go?"

Jack set his cup down hard, spilling a little coffee. He kept his eyes on the table as he mopped it up with a paper napkin. At last he said ruefully, "No, I can't say I remember you doing that." He finally looked up at Daniel. "I'm okay, too," he said.

Daniel shook his head. "I'm sorry I frightened you."

"You didn't frighten me," Jack said quickly, and then sighed. "The others did. They were so confident you'd be okay, but you weren't. Jesus, Daniel, anything could've happened to you in that place. It was a fucking nightmare."

"Well, yes. That's true. And I wasn't wild about being used like that myself. But it was typical, especially of the Tollans, to have us do their dirty work for them. Primitive humans and all that." He smiled, trying to lighten the mood, but Jack shook his head.

"Maybe I'm tired of being used. Maybe I'm tired of seeing _you_ used. You're the best Earth can offer, Daniel. Half the galaxy knows that. All the system lords do. And because of that, we keep offering you up, a human sacrifice. How many times am I going to lose you?"

To Daniel's horror, his throat closed and his eyes filled with tears at the pain in Jack's voice. The two men stared down at the table, Daniel peeking up at Jack through his lashes, overwhelmed and embarrassed by their sudden and uncharacteristic display of emotion.

Jack finally said, "On that cart, on the way back -- the way those people in the camp stared at you. Daniel, they recognized that quality in you, too. You have got to be the world's biggest pain in the ass, but dammit, you're my best friend. I don't want to go through that again. Having to pretend --"

He stopped abruptly and sipped determinedly at his coffee, as if it were an especially unpleasant task he had to finish. Daniel didn't know how to respond. He was confused by Jack's words and by his response to them. At last, he said, "Thank you, Jack. And I'm sorry. I'm really sorry they did that and, uh, frightened you. I was pretty frightened myself, not that that helps."

Jack snorted, and Daniel understood that they were through with the subject. He sighed and tried to relax. He knew that he'd be spending a lot of time pondering what had just happened, but not right now.

Right now Jack said, "Have you seen that movie Carter keeps talking about? The chick flick?"

"Yeah, why? You wanna go?"

Jack shrugged. "Only so I know what the hell she's talking about."

Daniel longed to press Jack further, but he recognized the boundaries Jack had set up and respected them. Still, when they left to return to the Mountain, he hesitantly put one hand on the small of Jack's back as they exited the coffee house, and was relieved to feel Jack lean into him. "You, uh, wanna have dinner one night?" he asked, his heart pounding absurdly. After all, they'd had dinner together hundreds of times since they'd met.

To Daniel's pleasure, Jack flushed slightly as he nodded. They paused for a moment, looking at each other over the roof of Daniel's car, until Jack said, "I'd really like that. But it's my treat this time."

Daniel smiled to himself as he climbed into the car. "Then someplace nice," he said. "Dinner and that chick flick," and Jack nodded, smiling a little himself.

Paul Davis had disappeared immediately after the initial briefing with the general upon their return from Kheusong-ha, and Daniel didn't see him again for nearly two weeks. He'd had time to complete and file his report of what had happened on Kheusong-ha, and had returned to the translation that had been plaguing him before he left, when he heard a soft knock and looked up to find Paul standing at the door.

"Hey, come in. Coffee?" Paul nodded, and Daniel noticed how tired he looked. "Is Narim here, too? Is it time to go to Tollana?"

"No, he's not. But I'm not going to go anyway."

Daniel turned, holding two cups of coffee. "You're not? Why not? I thought that was the point."

"No, Daniel," Paul said, accepting the coffee and taking a deep whiff before drinking half the cup down. "The whole point was to find alien technology, especially weapons. I came back with nothing. With less than nothing, really. I'm lucky not to have a reprimand in my file."

"Why?" Daniel sat in amazement. "What -- I don't understand."

Paul smiled ruefully from over his steaming mug. "I failed in my mission. Worse than that, I came back with stories about aliens cannibalizing their own world, but without any idea how it was done. I lived with the High Commander of the Asgard Fleet for over a week and learned nothing." He shrugged. "I'm a failure, Daniel."

"Jesus, no, you're not. I'm --" But Daniel didn't know what he was. Bewildered, angry, hurt. This was his government, after all, his representatives.

"No, I know I'm not." Paul smiled, but this time a genuine smile. "Really, I know I'm not. But that's life at the Pentagon."

"If not for the Tollan, then why are you here?"

"I have other assignments, you know. Right now, I'm looking into the SGC's expenditures."

"Is that a punishment?"

Paul shrugged. "Maybe. If so, there are worse punishments. I like being here, in the SGC. I believe in the work we're doing. In the work you're doing.

"Daniel. Go to Tollana. Speak for the Ha, speak for _Earth_." He looked earnestly at Daniel, even blushing slightly in his passion. "Just, you know. Don't let the Earthlings look _too_ primitive."

"Not a chance. Omoc couldn't consider us any lower on the evolutionary scale of coolness."

Paul choked on his coffee. "Scale of coolness? Is that the measurement the Tollans use? You've been hanging around Jack O'Neill too long."

They grinned at each other, but Daniel still felt a pang of grief for his friend.

A few days later Narim arrived, mooning after Sam as usual, to Jack's not-so-secret amusement; he met first with the general and then with SG-1. The general even invited Paul to attend, Daniel was happy to see, although he was still forbidden to go to Tollana with them. This time, however, Sam and Teal'c could both come, and SG-1 was together again, on a mission.

This would be the first time that anyone from earth had been permitted to attend a meeting of the Curia. Although they'd been to Chancellor Travell's office, they were led past it by Narim and into a large circular room nearby. Omoc was there, and Travell, and several dozen other men and women, all dressed in the familiar Tollan grey. When SG-1 entered the room, the Tollans turned, some smiling at them, others, like Omoc, looking stern.

"Welcome again to Tollana," Chancellor Travell said, coming to greet them. Omoc bowed slightly, and glanced at Narim and Sam, Daniel noticed. He smiled at Omoc, whose face relaxed slightly.

"Thank you, Chancellor," Jack said. "Where would you like us to sit?"

"Please, here, in the visitors gallery." She pointed to a boxed-in area; Daniel thought it looked the like penalty box at a hockey game. Which, he told himself, I wouldn't know about if not for Jack. "Doctor Jackson, we'd like you to sit here, with us."

"Us" proved to be the chancellor, Omoc, and three other dour looking Tollans. Narim followed them to the penalty box and sat next to Sam. "Narim is not a member of the Curia," Omoc told Daniel softly, and pointed to an uncomfortable-looking chair at one end. Daniel sat, feeling as though he were sitting for his qualifying exams again, and looked around him. The Curia began to settle and the noise level dropped. The chancellor spoke to them in their own language for a while, and he amused himself translating it, pleased with his progress.

He watched his teammates, too. Narim was obviously translating for Sam; they had their heads together, and Daniel thought they made a good-looking couple. Teal'c watched impassively. Jack seemed to be taking notes, which struck Daniel as unlikely in the extreme, so perhaps he was playing tic-tac-toe instead. Every now and then he'd look up and catch Daniel's eye and give him that O'Neill smile that Daniel loved so much.

At last, Chancellor Travell turned to him and began speaking in English. "Welcome, Inquisitor Jackson," she said, and there was a murmur among the Curia. Daniel tried to imitate Teal'c's elegant bow from where he sat. "Chancellor."

"We are also pleased to welcome our good friend Lya of the Nox today, and the High Commander of the Asgard Fleet, our ally Thor." With an ostentatious flash of light, Lya and Thor were suddenly there, and Daniel rose to greet them, smiling helplessly.

"Daniel," Lya said, coming to kiss him hello, and Thor surprised by him shaking his hand. They sat next to him and turned to face the Curia.

"Hey, Thor, buddy," Jack whispered, and waved. Thor waved back, making Daniel bite his lip with laughter. Lya smiled broadly at his teammates, and Daniel felt for a moment as if he might really belong here, among these magical beings.

"We are here today at the request of inhabitants of the planet Kheusong-ha, specifically, citizens of the nations of Dhiarm, Vong-sa, and Na-song. Security, please bring them in."

The doors they'd entered swung open again and a small group of people were escorted down the aisle of the Curia and stood looking around them. Daniel immediately recognized them as belonging to the same ethnicity as the Ha; they were small and very pale. They were all quite thin, too, and a bit stunned looking.

"Thank you, Chancellor," one of them said, and Daniel recognized the accent, too.

"Doctor Jackson, this is Doctor Khvi of Dhiarm. It was he who first came through the stargate to request our assistance. Doctor Khvi, this is one of the inquisitors, Doctor Daniel Jackson, of the Tau'ri."

"Sir," Dr. Khvi said, and bowed deeply. Feeling awkward and embarrassed, Daniel stood and bowed in return.

"Doctor Khvi, will you and your companions be seated? Behind you, there." Once they were settled, Chancellor Travell looked over the Curia again in her stern fashion. "We have all read the reports of the inquisitors. I believe we know well what is happening on Kheusong-ha. And we know what Doctor Khvi has asked of us.

"The question before the Curia, then, is this: What obligations does awareness of a continuing disaster on another world impose upon us, on this world?"

Lya rose gracefully. "Please forgive me, Chancellor Travell. With your permission, I would like to rephrase that question for the Curia." Travell nodded, and Lya turned to face the audience. "The Nox believe the question is: What obligations does awareness of a continuing disaster on another world impose upon the galactic community?" She bowed slightly, and sat.

There was a deep silence that Travell did not break. Daniel pondered Lya's question himself. Despite his years of gate travel, he wasn't entirely comfortable thinking in galactic terms. His service to the SGC and Abydos bound him to them, and his loyalties lay there. Yet at times he had persuaded, or tried to persuade, Jack and the SGC to act on behalf of others. Was that the same thing Lya was saying?

But did Kheusong-ha demand his loyalty too? Certainly the suffering he'd seen there had caused him many sleepless nights. He looked at Jack, who'd stopped playing and started listening; he was staring at Daniel, trying to beam some message to him, but Daniel didn't understand. He sighed.

He had no idea how the Curia would respond. They sat in silence for nearly a minute; it began to remind Daniel of a Friends' meeting, the intense silence growing into something else. He sneaked glances at Lya on one side of him and Thor on the other, but both seemed passive, almost peaceful. He was the only inquisitor fidgeting like a kid who needed to pee.

At last, the chancellor said, "Thank you, Lya. You have, as always, succinctly captured the essence of the situation. Do you have any thoughts you'd like to add?"

"Not at this time, Chancellor."

"Commander Thor?"

Thor rose, and Daniel heard him sigh. "In our travels through the galaxy, we have seen much evil. We have assumed responsibility for certain populations of humans, placing them under our protection. The Tau'ri here today are among them. The Asgard believe it is our duty to intervene when we can to help others. We therefore urge the Curia to consider joining us in an intervention."

"Does this mean that the Asgard have decided to intervene?"

"With your assistance, and the Nox, we would consider it. This is a different situation for the Asgard, because there is no current threat of the Goa'uld."

Chancellor Travell nodded. "Doctor Jackson," she said, and he jumped slightly. "Do you have anything to add to your written report?"

Daniel found himself standing. He took a deep breath and looked at Jack, and at Sam and Teal'c. His friends. At Narim, sitting so close to Sam but watching him intently, a look of concern on his face. Then he looked out at the Curia, the good people of Tollana debating this issue. And finally, almost shyly, he looked at the representatives from Kheusong-ha, who'd come so far on behalf of their nations and their world.

"Madame Chancellor," he said, and cleared his throat. "Madame Chancellor and members of the Curia, thank you for asking me to participate. I realize that, as a Tau'ri, I ordinarily would not be present, nor asked to speak. I recognize the honor you've bestowed on the Tau'ri, and thank you." Daniel saw that went over well; a little flattery never hurt. The light in the chancellor's eyes told him she knew that, too.

"With the help of the other inquisitors, I was able to see more of Kheusong-ha than they were, and to report back my findings. I have already shared those findings with you.

"I saw terrible things there. I understand the reasons these people," and he gestured toward the Kheusong-ha contingent, "came so far for help. I wish I could say what happened on Kheusong-ha was unique, but I know from my experience on Earth and throughout the galaxy that, as the High Commander said, great evil exists. It has played on many fields.

"Lya asked whether learning of this evil requires us to act, even if it's on another world. I would tell you that yes, we are all required. When lives are so damaged, when worlds are so torn asunder, I do believe that we are our brothers' keepers.

"The Tau'ri can do nothing to assist you. For that reason, my vote means very little. No matter what you decide, we have no ships to send, no armies, no secret weapon. We are, as Thor told you, under the protection of the Asgard ourselves, because we cannot entirely protect ourselves from the Goa'uld.

"So perhaps you should disregard me. Perhaps what I saw doesn't matter, since I can't in any real way contribute to the effort. Knowing this, I still ask you to help Kheusong-ha. What I saw -- those images will haunt me forever. If I could assist you, I would. I would go with you to Kheusong-ha and fight the evil I saw growing there. The Ha's Year Zero is spreading, swallowing up entire countries.

"There is great evil there. And I believe that great evil ignored is great evil encouraged. Thank you."

He sat down suddenly, almost falling into his chair, feeling a bit light-headed. Who the hell would've ever believed he'd turn into an orator? He blushed with embarrassment at his words, but he saw Jack smiling crookedly at him. Teal'c nodded, and Sam did, too.

Paul should've been here, he thought. He's the diplomat. But he was counting pennies at the SGC and couldn't be spared for this.

After a short silence, Chancellor Travell said, "Thank you, Doctor Jackson. The members of the Curia will recess now, to meet in private and discuss what has been brought before them. Thank you all, very much. If you would be available tomorrow? Narim?"

Narim practically bounced out of his seat and led Sam, Jack, and Teal'c to where Daniel and the others sat. "Please, come with me," he asked, and they and the Kheusong-ha followed him meekly back into the hallway, where security guards waited. "You have all been given quarters, and are free to visit the city. If there's anything you wish, just ask the computer in your rooms, and it will be brought to you."

Daniel watched the inhabitants of Kheusong-ha led off in one direction. Thor said, "I will return to my ship," and vanished in his usual flash of light. Lya said, "I wish to go home as well. I will return tomorrow," and she set out toward the delicate arch of the Tollan's stargate.

SG-1 turned to Narim, who said, "This way, please. I've made arrangements for you to stay at one of the more comfortable hostels. I hope you will share your evening meal with me, at my home."

"Thank you, Narim," Sam said, smiling up into his face, and Jack elbowed Daniel.

"Knock it off," he whispered, but Sam and Narim didn't hear, although Teal'c gave them a disapproving look.

Dinner was quiet; Narim was so in love with Sam that Daniel couldn't find it amusing. Jack was quiet, too, playing with his food. "What I'd give for a beer," he muttered to Daniel, but as far as Daniel knew there was no beer on Tollana.

"I'll buy you one when we get home," he promised, and Jack nodded.

Narim walked them to the hostel, and he was right -- it was a nice place. More like a hotel than a hostel, Daniel thought, looking around his room as he dropped his backpack on the floor. He was wearing one of the suits he'd carried all the way to Kheusong-ha and back, and was anxious to get out of it. But as soon as he had on khakis and a sweater, he didn't know what to do.

He sat on the edge of his bed and fiddled with his pen, tapping it restlessly against his knee. He was still wound up from meeting with the Curia, and especially from having to speak to them. He wondered what, if anything, the Tollans would decide to do, and whether the Asgard or the Nox would intervene.

Daniel kept remembering what he'd seen on Kheusong-ha; the images hadn't left him, and today had brought them back even more vividly. The stories the people had told him, their thin faces exhausted from a generation of struggle, visited him, heavy presences in his solitude. He was angry, and sad, and confused.

At last he rose, went down the hall and, after a moment's hesitation, knocked on Jack's door.

"Hey," he said, when Jack opened it. They stared at each other, and then Jack opened the door wider and stepped back, smiling sadly as Daniel entered Jack's equally nice room. They stood awkwardly, Daniel still flipping the pen against his thigh. Then he pocketed it and hesitantly held out his arms to Jack. After a few seconds, Jack shut the door and moved into them; his arms slipped around Daniel's waist. "I, um, don't want to be alone," Daniel murmured shyly, and Jack nodded, his hair tickling Daniel's neck. Daniel tightened his arms around Jack.

"What's going to happen?" Jack asked him, but Daniel wasn't sure. He rested his head against Jack's shoulder and breathed in his scent, so familiar, so comforting. He tilted his head back slightly, but even as he studied his friend, he couldn't help but remember everything they'd seen in Ha, the real achievements of Year Zero, and how desperate the doctors who'd come to Tollana for help had been.

"We keep trying," he said at last. Because, really, what choices did they have? To give up? Admit defeat? Neither of them was made that way. He felt so tender toward Jack, so close at that moment. He stroked Jack's face, so dear to him, and watched as Jack closed his eyes, the lines on his face smoothing out. I did that, Daniel thought, and smiled to himself. Jack opened his eyes and smiled back at him.

"Then we'll keep trying," Jack repeated in a whisper, and they smiled at each other. "I want to do that."

"Then that's what will happen," Daniel said. They stood together for a long time, awkward, embarrassed, determined, and then Jack led Daniel to the bed where they sat, Jack's arm loosely around Daniel's waist.

"Want something to drink? Tea or something?" Jack finally asked. "Narim said just to tell the computer."

Daniel shook his head. He wanted this moment just as it was, sitting next to Jack, leaning against each other in a strange room on a strange planet, waiting for the next strange thing to happen. He rested his head against Jack's shoulder again, and felt Jack's other arm reach around him. He and Jack had spent a lot of time together since their return from Kheusong-ha, and he knew that Jack wanted this as much as he did. Just a few quiet moments together, at peace, safe. He shut his eyes to shut out the world, so he could focus all his attention on Jack's presence. He thought he felt a light kiss brushed against his forehead, and shyly kissed Jack's shoulder, and then they sat there, for a long time. A moment of quiet, a moment of peace.

They couldn't save Kheusong-ha; they couldn't save Earth. They couldn't even really save each other. But they could keep trying, and they could have these few moments. Daniel thought: We can do this much. We can be friends. We can love each other. We can feed that one hunger, meet that one need. They could make a refuge from the world, and find safety and solace in each other's arms. When Daniel opened his eyes again to find a sleepy Jack nodding next to him, he knew that here, in this strange room, in this strange place, he was home. "It's all we can do," he whispered to the universe. Unfeeling, unseeing, uncaring it might be, but it was all he could do.

~ ~ ~

Jack made Daniel wait until the cart was loaded and everyone else settled into it before he helped him up, Major Davis hovering next to him as well. "I'm _fine_," Daniel insisted, but Jack didn't let go; he didn't think he could ever let Daniel go, after all that had happened. Davis climbed in first, dropping Daniel's backpack, and then leaned over the side of the cart to help haul him up while Jack pushed from below. "Dammit, guys, I said I can do this," Daniel complained.

"Just get in the cart, Daniel," Jack said, climbing up after him. Daniel was bright red, whether from the exertion or embarrassment, Jack wasn't sure. They sat at the front of the cart facing backwards, looking into Lya's, Thor's, and Omoc's faces and, beyond them, into the camp.

Where, Jack saw, it looked as though every inhabitant had gathered to see them off. The cart's driver slapped the reins and made a deep sound in his throat; the instant the cart jerked forward, Daniel stood, Jack and Davis grabbing at him. "Eshi," Daniel called, and bowed his head over his folded hands. The crowd sighed, and also bowed their heads.

Jack stared up at Daniel, his eyes closed, mouth drawn into a thin line, and watched him open his eyes to look at Jack. He was filthy, his hair dark and matted with sweat and streaks of dirt decorated his face and throat. Then he looked out at the crowd and raised one hand.

"Eshi, eshi," they called out to him. Daniel remained standing until they had passed through the camp's gate and turned into the jungle. Only then did he let Jack haul him back down, and he collapsed bonelessly, sliding off the seat and onto the floor of the cart to rest against his backpack.

"Here," Jack said gruffly, and pulled at Daniel until he half-lay over Jack's lap, his arms around Jack's knees. Jack was too embarrassed to look at the others. He just focused on Daniel, on keeping him as safe and as comfortable as he could under these circumstances.

He stroked Daniel's sweaty hair, and Daniel lifted his face to smile up at Jack. "I'm all right," he said, and Jack nodded silently.

~ ~ ~

Written August 20 - September 8, 2002

* * *

**Story Notes**: What a pain in the ass this story was. I'm just praying that isn't the reading experience, too.

I've been fascinated by the Khmer Rouge's rise to power in Cambodia for nearly twenty years, but only when I was re-reading William Shawcross's book _The Quality of Mercy_, about the world's response to the famine in post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia, did this story idea occur to me. I blame Shawcross. Early in that book, he asked the question, "What obligations does awareness of a continuing disaster impose upon the world community?"

That question became Lya's at the review of the inquiry's findings; she asked, "What obligations does awareness of a continuing disaster on another world impose upon the galactic community?" That question is implicit in the SGC's hunt for Goa'uld and for technology to combat the Goa'uld, but I don't recall it ever being asked -- except, of course, by Daniel, and only indirectly. And now Daniel's is gone, ascended, whatever the fuck they did to him, and there's no one left to ask.

I also blame Margaret Drabble's _The Gates of Ivory_, the third book of her beautiful trilogy, part of which is set in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. My favorite of all Drabble's novels.

If you're interested in Cambodia, you should also read Ben Kiernan's _How Pol Pot Came to Power_, a rather dry but extremely detailed account of the political and cultural circumstances that led to the success of the Khmer Rouge.  
But for sheer horror, read _When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge. A Memoir_, by Chanrithy Him. She was just a little girl when she and her family were forced to leave Phnom Penh and become part of the "new people." How she survived is almost impossible to believe. Everything that Daniel sees in Ha is based on something in one of these books.

The character of Ki-riv-Ha came from Shawcross' and Kiernan's interviews with various upper echelon of the Khmer Rouge. Always so well educated, always so fanatical, always so cruel. Just because you love Mozart doesn't mean you're a decent human being.

I wanted to answer Shawcross' question for the SG universe. What would cause the Tollans and the Nox to act? How would the SGC react to their decision? And what effect would witnessing the galactic politics have on SG-1?

And, as always, I wanted to write a Jack/Daniel love story. Because that's really the only story that interests me.

The title _The Unvictorious Ones_ comes from a Siegfried Sasson poem, "On Passing the New Menin Gate," which was quoted in the Shawcross book:

Who will remember, passing through this gate,  
The unheroic dead who fed the guns?  
Who shall absolve the foulness of their fate --  
Those doomed, conscripted, unvictorious ones?


End file.
